(no subject)

[starkingenuity]

"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!"

Comments

[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.

[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."

[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.

[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!"

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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."

[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...

[starkingenuity]

Jarvis laughs very softly. "I don't say this lightly at all, doctor, but I fear Marshall Fury had been correct. Tell any other pilot and his co-pilot would be saddened, certainly. But Mr. Stark has a possessive streak. I believe his personnel file might list all of his flaws. If his money and his assets and skills were not so sorely needed I very much doubt he would even be allowed to pilot at all."

Jarvis knows him better than anyone. He's been inside his head for at least a year now. Of course he does.

"But you couldn't have known. Please do not blame yourself for something not properly explained to you. You saved us. The hulk saved us. And I'm pretty sure that has never happened before. You need to get well again because something needs to be done about Mr. Stark. Some of that shrapnel is too close to his heart to be removed."

[aggravated]

Bruce had been about to say how Jarvis is close, but not quite right as there was one other person that the Other Guy had saved, then Jarvis drops that bomb and Bruce looks to him with wide eyes. "It's that bad-" The wide eyes close tightly, and he starts trying to sit up again regardless of how tired he feels. "What state is he in now? What do they plan to do-"

Shrapnel too close to the heart. They wouldn't let Stark pilot again if he was in danger from something like that, if he even lived.

[starkingenuity]

Jarvis shakes his head sadly. "What can they do? They have him hooked up to a battery I believe, to keep the shrapnel from reaching his heart each time it beats, and other than that, he's in a medically induced coma. Staying calm is key but I believe we both know that Mr. Stark will find it impossible to stay calm."

The Mammoth Apostle is without pilots. Jarvis has a feeling that two will be picked from the new batch of Academy graduates relatively soon to fill their slots.

"I wish I had better news for you, Doctor Banner."

[aggravated]

It's all his fault. There's a guilt-complex built in deep, thanks to insane father, and it's kicking in hard. He turns his legs over the sides of the bed and he closes his eyes, trying to think. A battery... "A battery. Why a battery?" If the shrapnel is too close to his heart to be able to safely remove it, possibly too small as well to even be properly seen, then how can they keep it out for a lifetime?

Something, an idea, is nudging at his mind.

[starkingenuity]

"It runs a magnet. Bit ingenious actually. There is a Doctor Yinsen watching over him at the moment, a surgeon, who has used the technique before during the wars in the Middle East. I won't pretend to know how it works, but it seems to keep the metal from moving closer to his heart." If only the same could be said for the Apostle. Their beautiful Jaeger will be under repairs for a long time. And they will likely never see the conn-pod again.

Jarvis stands to make his exit.

"When you're well enough, you should go to see him. He'd like that, if they'd let him wake up. Perhaps it's not my place to say, but he enjoyed your company."

[aggravated]

"Wait," Bruce says suddenly, looking up at Jarvis. "...I'm sorry. I... this isn't what I wanted to happen. To either of you." Fury's not going to even keep me around long enough to say goodbye once he knows I'm awake. "I meant what I said. I'm going to make sure none of that worst-case scenario happens."

A magnet?

A battery, a magnet-- energy.

He needs to go see how Stark's doing, and maybe speak to Yinsen, before Fury throws him out, or worse.

[starkingenuity]

"I know you will, doctor. The PPDC needs people like you." And he firmly believes that Stark does too. It's hardly Jarvis' place to say it but he's seen and felt a change in Stark ever since Banner came around. Maybe it is his place to say something. Stark never will. "And...well, one more thing. That cut on his hand... He did that to himself. An excuse to see you. So fight hard to stay here."

Jarvis leaves Bruce to himself after that and goes to sit with his former employer and current co-pilot.

[aggravated]

That's enough to stun Bruce into silence, watching Jarvis leave without understanding. Why would Stark cut himself as an excuse to see him? He hardly needed an excuse, as he was welcome to come down to the lab. So why... why...

Bruce sighs, shaking his head, and slips out while no one else knows he's awake. He's already in deep trouble, he might as well add to it. He needs to find out how long they plan to keep Stark out, and just how bad the situation is currently.

So Jarvis will have Bruce visiting not terribly long later, after snagging at least a decent pair of pants to wear. He's used to being nude, probably more than he should be, but still.

[starkingenuity]

Jarvis is alone, holding Stark's hand, a look of concentration on his face as he waits. He's been given no news at all, just extra doses of medication to combat the radiation poisoning he's been exposed to. On the table beside him as a device with wires leading to Stark's chest, still asleep. He'd look dead if it weren't for the monitors explaining otherwise.

When Banner gets closer, Jarvis glances up. The usually stoic man has very red eyes but he nods just the same. "Come in, doctor. You look a bit like you could use a seat."

[aggravated]

Bruce has a sheet of paper in his hand, clutched to his chest, as he walks across the room slowly to stand at Stark's side. The man looks sallow and pasty and far removed from the bright, warm, decidedly insane man Bruce has come to know over the two weeks or so. He stands beside him, silent, before his eyes flicker over to the battery beside him.

"I don't know where Yinsen is, or what his skill set is, but I have a suggestion." He unfolds the paper, and spreads it out for Jarvis to see. It's easier than the guilt that's creeping up hotter and hotter inside. It's one of Tony's drawings of the device he'd been building, the one Bruce had first spoken to him about and respected the ideas of.

"Stark can't lug that battery around forever, but this, maybe he could." He can't stay. He can't.

[starkingenuity]

Jarvis has seen the design before during drifts and he knows it well. "The arc reactor?" he asks, looking perhaps a little confused before he stands up abruptly. "It's an electromagnet. He's been working on a way to miniaturize it, to stabilize the design that way and-- You're bloody brilliant!" It's not like Jarvis to look excited over anything.

He takes the paper with shaking hands and holds it up and out.

"We'll need... We can do this. Well, you and he. We need to tell Marshall Fury. If it works for Mr. Stark, it could be used to power the Jaegers and--" Oh. Ahem. Pardon him. He clears his throat, somewhat embarrassed by his outburst. "Forgive me. I believe you should present this to the Marshall. You might end up saving all of our lives, Doctor."