starkingenuity | (no subject)

"Yep, actually, I did hear you, Doc. I'm just ignoring you." Don't be a buzz kill. Stark is riding high from that last fight. "It's just a cut. I've gotten a lot of cuts. Some bactine and some bandages and a little kiss over it from Jarvis here and I'll be just fine." The tall, leggy blond at his side doesn't even bother to roll his pale blue eyes. He's worked with Stark for years, too long really. He knows how the man acts.

"Sir."

That always makes Stark laugh and he lightly pats Jarvis on the back of his drivesuit. "Not your boss anymore, Jarv," he reminds him gentle. Or maybe he's just trying to drown out the mousy little guy following him. And that's when it hits him, halfway down the corridor, through the cheering crowds and the crews trying to get his Jaeger back into one piece. He knows that mousey little man follow him. "Shit. You're Doctor Banner! Well hey, nice to meet you finally! Man, we studied your tactics against Onibaba for months after that attack in Tokyo!"

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From:

aggravated

What the...

Bruce looks up from what he's reading with a blink, getting his focus back. This is the first time Stark will see him with his reading glasses on, silver framed perched on his nose.

His stomach sinks a little for two reasons - he's forgotten to eat, and he has an appointment, again, with Stark's partner in just a few hours. And a meeting with Fury about that appointment.

"You what?" He looks at the finger, then raises a brow as he sees a trail of bright crimson down Stark's finger and palm. Oh. He stands up, going to get his case to be able to help. "Combat training?"

From:

starkingenuity

"With a rusting valve. Ooh, rust, I need a shot too I guess." Stark is happy about that. "Means I'll need a follow up too. I don't want to get tetanus right? That's pretty bad. Lockjaw's one of the symptoms right? That sounds terrible." All Stark really needs to do is chirp and waddle and he'd be the perfect little duckling right now. It's cute. But not really all that cute and perhaps just a little troubling. "We should probably set up an appointment for that, right? Maybe two?"

He wriggles the finger he sustained damage too and frowns at it. Maybe he shouldn't go purposefully hurting his hands in the future. He could probably punch a hole through his shoulder though with limited damage--

"I'll bow to your expertise."

From:

aggravated

Bruce just looks up at Tony for all of that, his brows slowly going up. "I think that's a bit much, Stark." He uses a clean pad to clean away the blood, his hands gentle as they work to bandage up the little cut. "You're the first patient I've ever had that sounds excited about appointments and shots."

He suddenly stops as a beeping goes off, and he holds up a finger. "Hold on a second." He goes over to the large container of Blue and the device beneath it, studying the readings from it carefully. When he gets to the end, he lets out an unhappy sigh. "Damn." Very soft.

From:

starkingenuity

"You don't see a lot of patients, do you?" Stark counters immediately. "Because if this is the only wound we get in a week, that's sort of cause for celebration." He sits himself down on an old leather chair and watches Banner head over to the specimen tank with interest. He's got no idea what a physicist and radiation expert is doing with the stuff but he'll let it go for now. Curiosity leads to solving mysteries and he doesn't want to do that too quickly. He tends to lose interest. "If you're busy I can come back," he promises. "The bandage will hold for now I guess."

From:

aggravated

"No, not anymore." Bruce actually sounds a little unhappy about that. He misses being able to help people more directly, even though he knows his work with the Blue and the radiation shielding for the Jaegers will help many.

"It's fine, it's fine." He stands up and drops his results onto the table, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Just not having the result I was hoping for this experiment." He sits down and looks over at the tub, eyes narrowed as if angry, before he looks back to Tony calm again.

From:

starkingenuity

"Uh... Huh. Well hey. That just means you get to do more experiments. Win-win. Unless you need those results for something but hey the next projected attack is months away. Don't sweat it."

He smiles at Banner and stands up again, heading back to the little desk in the corner.

"Sounds like you forgot the eat. Here." A stack of cookies wrapped carefully in a napkin is retrieved from Stark's breast pocket. They're a little warm from body heat. "Eat those. And join us for lunch tomorrow. Might be weird. We've a neural handshake optimizer test tomorrow. If we stop talking just shove me."

Have another wink, Banner. And all of Stark's friendship.

From:

aggravated

"The sooner I manage to find a way to neutralize Kaiju Blue safely, the better," Bruce points out, watching him move across the room. Stark tends to talk so rapidly that Bruce has to keep up a little, but he gives a small smile at the offered of food. He doesn't quite know what to say to the kindness, but the invitation to eat lunch with them he bows his head a little. "I... I'll try to make it there."

But after tonight, he's not so sure about that he'll be welcomed. It'll be Jarvis' decision, really.

From:

starkingenuity

While Stark is oblivious, Jarvis is not. If Doctor Banner is calling him down to his lab, there has to be a problem. Not that Jarvis looks afraid. Or tired. Or like anything at all. He's a serene sort of fellow with a serene sort of attitude and he knocks and waits for the doctor to invite him in before he takes a seat opposite the other man.

"You wished to see me?" There's a folder on the desk. His name is on it. Something is wrong and he finally feels a stab of fear. Not for himself. But for Stark. "I'm going to guess that it's not particularly happy news."

He'll smile just the same, just a ghost of one at least. It's not Bruce's fault.

From:

aggravated

Bruce lets out a slow breath as Jarvis sits, his hands one over the other in his lap. "It depends, honestly," Bruce says after a moment of thought. He'd been thinking about how to talk about this since the moment he knew the truth, but nothing he can think of helps to ease all of this. Still, he looks calmer than most would give him credit for, considering his... condition.

He meets Jarvis' eyes, and states quite calmly, "it depends on what you want me to tell you, considering the circumstances. I can tell you nothing, good or bad, or how severe or not, and it can be taken care of with as little knowledge in your mind as possible. Or I can tell you out right, and the consequences will be dealt with."

He'd fought to be even able to tell Jarvis this much, and he knows it's on his head if everything goes to hell because he believes in the Human right to know if you're sick or not.

From:

starkingenuity

The blond blinks and sits back. "Let's take the worst case scenario," he says, pondering out loud. "Let's say that the Mark-II shielding hasn't done it's job and I've contracted a lethal dose of radiation. Let's say that I do not wish to know and you treat me without my knowledge. How many times would I be able to co-pilot the Mammouth Apostle before it either became apparent that I do have radiation sickness, or that I succumb?"

He appreciates Banner going about this in this way. However, he knows he's gotten dangerous levels of radiation without even being told. Extra doses of metharocin will slow it down. But each time the conn-pod connects with the Jaeger, he'll be killing himself.

From:

aggravated

But lethal and dangerous amounts are still very different from each other. Bruce's lips thin, thinking it through. "If that is the case, in less than six months it will become apparent, whether you know or not. In three years, if you stopped at that point, you could be gone. That is the absolute worst case scenario, however."

He takes a slow breath. "In an easier case, with proper medication, less training near the Mammoth Apostle, and proper care, I would extend those out to a year and five."

Now, the bigger chance. "I... May have something to help the situation. I have been working on this problem for some time, and believe I've come quite far in a possible way to start halting the process until the shielding is fully developed."

From:

starkingenuity

"Then... I assume it's something you'll be giving to all pilots?" Jarvis asks, still quite calm despite the growing put in his stomach. "Just to be on the safe side? If you'd like to test it on me first, however, I would not object. In fact, it's a rather wise move as I may be your best candidate. The others do well under pressure when facing enemies they can see. Facing ones they can not are a different matter entirely."

He gives Bruce another smile and stands, reaching across the desk for a shake.

"One other small question. Mr. Stark... You don't have a file, one way or the other, on him, do you?" It's a round about way of asking if Tony is sick too.

From:

aggravated

Bruce stands and takes Jarvis' hand, but doesn't immediately let go. "No matter the case, I'll be making sure the outcome is the best possible." His voice is a promise; this is the epitome of his work, as a doctor, as a scientist, mixed together.

He releases Jarvis' hand with that. Normally, he would not tell someone another's medical results, but in his gut, he knows that in this case, there is an overriding reason. "Luckily," he says after a moment, "I won't need to see Stark back here unless he actually does come down with tetanus."

From:

starkingenuity

Jarvis looks relieved. The way he cares for Stark is astounding, no matter their age difference or their former statuses. Stark's always taken care of him too. Just not so openly. "Thank you very much, doctor but-- What do you mean by tetanus--" As soon as Bruce fills him in, Jarvis looks a little knowing and a little amused too. "I see," he replies upon hearing that Stark came down earlier with a cut on his hand. He's use to his co-pilot fighting getting even a headwound looked at. "It seems you've quite the calming effect on him. Try not to work too hard, doctor. I'm sure we'll see each other soon enough."

He leaves the lab walking tall. And will continue to do the same all the way up until their ten hundred hours training mission during a conn-pod handshake recalibrator. They're not even completely linked when Stark catches the whiff of what's happened. Even if Bruce hadn't told Jarvis exactly what was wrong, he told him in not so many words that something was wrong and--

Well Stark doesn't like giving up his stuff.

A panic sits in and off Stark goes, for the first time in their career, chasing the R.A.B.I.T.

From:

aggravated

He hears about it because the sudden loss of control on the Mammoth Apostle is something to panic about. There's a warning alarm that goes off and his head goes up, brows coming together. It's from the doctors in the labs near his that he realizes what's going on, and his heart drops like a ten ton hammer.

In an instant, he's running for Mission Control. He doesn't know why, at first, but by the time he's gotten up there, Fury is glaring death at him and Bruce is trying to ignore him. "Let me talk to them in the Conn-pod!" he says to them. "I think I can get through to Stark."

"I don't see how--" Except they all hear the Mammoth's systems charging and everyone's heart skips a beat. "Damn it, Banner. Try it!"

Bruce grabs the mic, seeing them lighting up for him to talk into it. "Stark! Stark, listen to me! It's Doctor Banner! It's not going to happen-- I'm not going to let it!"

From:

starkingenuity

There's no answer, not from Stark, not from Jarvis, though the blond's voice does come in over the loudspeaker. "Sir! Sir, please, you're taking it out of context--" But Tony doesn't think so. Jarvis is going to die. Like his parents. Jesus, only this is worse because he actually likes Jarvis! What Stark is reliving is a mixture of things. Jarvis last night keeps coming back, but so does his parent's funeral. So does his loneliness at school...the alienation be felt before joining the Jaegers because of his weapon designs and manufacturing.

Banner's voice just doesn't cut it.

Jarvis's doesn't cut it. And that's when the Jaeger starts to move, still joined to the Shatterdome at all of the tethering points and power cables.

From:

aggravated

Bruce's heart stops as the entire Dome starts creaking with the force of the Jaeger's movements. Behind him, he can hear Marshall Fury barking orders for people to get out, hearing the massive doors starting to close. His eyes close as he tries to think it through, trying to think what could be done. "Break the handshake!" he calls back to the man working the console, but gets a negative on that happening.

"Stark," trying one more time, feeling his heart rate jumping. He doesn't see Fury freezing when he looks back at him, doesn't see his own hands starting towards green at the tips. "Stark, please. Please, listen to me. Please. I'm not going to let you lose Jarvis. I promise you. I'm not going to let you lose him! I know what it is to lose the people most important to you and I'm going to make sure you don't lose him!"

His fingers tighten hard on the edge of the console.

From:

starkingenuity

Well that's one console that is going to need to be replaced.

It's not really understood what happens when Pilots sink into thoughts and memories like this but stopping the handshake doesn't always work. Luckily, in this case, the moment they disconnect the Jaeger from the AI, Tony falls out of his harness and Jarvis immediately catches him.

"I've got you," Jarvis says, and Tony's got him in a death grip, breathing hard. "Sir, it's all right--"

What happens between then and now is something that really won't be understood until much, much later. The Jaeger just keeps going, even without her pilots. Their handshake has faded, but their drift hasn't. And because their drift hasn't, the Jaeger is still responding to Stark's desire to run away by trying to run away itself.

From:

aggravated

"Jarvis, get both of you out of the pons interface!" Bruce snaps in a tone most would rarely have heard from him. It should be impossible that the Jaeger's even still going. Just what modifications has Stark done to the machine?

But he knows he can't let people be hurt. Every part of him is tense as he stares out across the bay, hearing the building creaking again.

He doesn't want to do it. He doesn't want to do it. He hasn't since he nearly died from Kaiju Blue.

From:

starkingenuity

"We're not connected!" Jarvis shoots back before he goes back to talking to Tony again, to shake him out of it before the whole Jaeger just starts it's slow, inevitable toppling over. It's horrible to watch, sparks flying from each broken connection. The leg of the Jaeger gets caught on a crane and the last of the engineers run from the collapsing machine.

A fall from this height, while in a harness, would hurt but not be life threatening. But both pilots out of the harness! Well they're tumbling forward. There is going to be damage despite the body armor.

From:

aggravated

Bruce won't remember what happens. There's some definite glass that'll need to be repaired in Mission Control because a green, blue-streaked blur comes crashing through it, leaping fearlessly onto nearest catwalk that nearly crumples under his weight, then up into the area above the Mammoth. There's a long second while the beast stares down at the falling Jaeger, then he takes a running start before leaping straight into the face of the Mammoth itself.

The Hulk roars as he rears back with both fists and slams them into the front of the Conn-pod. Designed to go against the massive Kaiju, it takes not one, not two, but three blows from the Hulk's fists in rapid succession for him to break through the front of it.

But the Mammoth is falling too fast for him to get out of the Mammoth with them. The Hulk, instead, snarls and grabs both humans, and hugs them to his chest. It'll be the Hulk's body and sides that take the fall as it comes.

From:

starkingenuity

There's a lot of damage to the Shatterdome, a lot of damage to the Jaeger. And a lot of damage to Tony Stark, who has found himself curled against the Hulk but also pierced by what amounts to dime sized pieces of shrapnel as deadly as bullets might be. His chest and side are pitted with them, right where the drivesuit had come apart.

He won't wake up as quickly as Banner and Jarvis do. The medically induced coma sees to it.

In fact, Bruce himself will wake up to a set of pale blue eyes and a grim smile. "Good, you've woken doctor Banner. I was beginning to be worried. How do you feel?" Jarvis sits down by the doctor's bedside. The Marshalls and the PPDC are arguing about this but Jarvis at least is grateful. Since when does the Hulk save people?

From:

aggravated

Bruce's brows come together as he looks at Jarvis, then around the room. From the large gap of missing memory, he has a terrible, terrible feeling what happened. There's nothing in his mind, yet. Nothing of the green monster that was very nearly all blue from the waist up from the staining of the Kaiju Blue, or what he did.

But he remembers the Mammoth Apostle falling, and he sits up frantically. "Jarvis? You're okay-- Stark?" Trying to get his thoughts in order, even though his body is sore.

From:

starkingenuity

"You saved us," Jarvis says with a smile and fusses at the blankets to spare them of any creases. He only has minor OCD in that regard and for the most part, Stark had been clean and neat through his time with him. Cleaning up after the genius was not a difficult task. "And I bet you've just set all of the blood rushing out of your head. Lie down, Doctor Banner. You'll do him no good if you aren't rested."

Jarvis knows more than they've told him. He's been ghost drifting with Stark here and there ever since the accident. He does tell Bruce what he can about the accident and tries very hard not to put the blame on him or allow him to blame himself.

"You had to tell me. Mr. Stark...over exaggerates his emotions. When he appears to have anything other than 'cocky' in his repertoire."

From:

aggravated

Unfortunately, Jarvis is right, and Bruce ends up laying back with a tired sound. Sitting up and the feeling of concern-worry-fear took most of his energy. He listens in silence to Jarvis' recounting of the accident and when he's done, rubs a hand over his face with a quiet groan.

"It's exactly what Fury said would happen," Bruce says softly, looking up to the Jaeger pilot. "He didn't want me to tell you because this could happen. I argued it was your right to know and make your own decision about how it was handled."

Jarvis might be trying to make it so he doesn't blame himself, but unfortunately, he sees all too easy that it is. Fury could easily dismiss him from the whole program for this, but after this incident, Bruce wonders if he should even be here. With his test results, they would be able to improve the shielding enough that the pilots would be safe, which is why he was brought in the first place...