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:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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."

From:

aggravated

Watching the normally stoic Jarvis get so very excited makes Bruce feel like this is the right thing to have done, after several wrong choices, and there is something warming about it. Still, he has to clear up a misconception. "Jarvis, I can't stay. Whether or not I want to speak to Fury, I'll have to. I'll tell him about this, and he'll undoubtedly take it from there. If I don't end up court marshaled, I'll be lucky."

His smile is achingly sad. "I studied the arc reactor's design before I came here and after talking with him, even further. I know it isn't complete, but if anyone can manage it, he can. I'm not an engineer by any means, but hopefully Doctor Yinsen will be able to help him get it implanted."

From:

starkingenuity

"This isn't the military," Jarvis says gently. "You won't be court marshaled. And I very much doubt that you'll be fired, Doctor. You have only tried to help."

He lightly smiles and hands back the paper. "And I really do not want to deal with Mister Stark if he finds out you've been terminated. I can almost guarantee that no one else does either. But if you feel the need to leave, please do so after he wakes. You can deal with his arrogance. I've done so for years."

From:

aggravated

Too many years with the Army to not think of the consequences in those terms. "I only caused a few million dollars in damage to the Shatterdome and one of its prime Jaeger, nevermind one of their best pilots. I'm not blind to the fact there will be consequences."

Bruce takes the paper, folding it up carefully. "It might not be my choice, you realize. It's out of my hands, what happens. I'll try to stay, because I promised to help you and... I owe Stark to try and make sure the right people are helping him."

His eyes go back to Stark's face, wishing for a heartbeat he could drift like the pilots could to make Stark know he's going to find a way to make sure he can pilot again."

From:

starkingenuity

When Stark finally wakes up, he puts a hand to his head immediately to block out the heavy overhead lights. "Jarvis--" But his co-pilot isn't there. They'd told him Stark would take about two hours to wake up completely, to shower, shave, and have a little him time. Of course, Tony never does anything on schedule and not twenty minutes after Jarvis' departure do his eyes open.

He sees someone in a labcoat instead with mousey brown curls and tilts his head towards him to get a better look at what he's doing.

"One little cut on my hand and all this, Doc?" he jokes blandly. He doesn't really remember what happened.

From:

aggravated

Bruce actually is a little started, mostly because he'd been expecting Stark not to wake up for quite some time, either. He's staring down at the design in his hands, the arc reactor, waiting for Fury to figure out where he is and come in like his namesake, or to be told to leave, or something similar.

"...hey." Very soft, putting the blueprint aside and being ready in case Stark tries to sit up or anything that foolish. "You really need to stop hurting yourself to get me to see you. This one wasn't as cute as a little cut on the hand."

From:

starkingenuity

"Oh, that asshole, telling my secrets," Tony says. He's been out for some time, several days in fact. Medically induced comas don't sit too well with him, he's decided. Yinsen has been in and out, thought Banner's idea was brilliant, and there's a butt mark in the seat next to him that probably matches Jarvis to a tee. "But I'm not sure what I did this time, to be honest. Unless that cut festered-- Shit, I didn't lose my hand did--" A glance calms him down. "No. Good. I might have been really pissed. I like my hands."

He doesn't try to sit up but he does take another look around the room. The wires leading to his chest aren't going to standard medical equipment and his eyes roll under the blink of his lids a moment later.

"Ah hell."

From:

aggravated

"...you chased the R.A.B.I.T," Bruce says softly, "because you found out Jarvis is sick. Even disconnected from your Jaeger, it kept moving without any pilot. They're still trying to figure out how." No, he won't bring up the Other Guy at all. He didn't save anyone - Stark almost died, and would without the battery. "You survived, Jarvis is fine, but there's shrapnel, so tiny and so close to your heart they can't remove it. Doctor Yinsen managed to figure out a way to save you via the battery you're hooked up to and a magnet."

From:

starkingenuity

Wait a second. Banner, if you're close enough, you're going to have a very famous playboy hanging off of your arm right now. His grip might be weak but yanno what? He's doing the best he can here and he needs a touch stone. "I have a magnet stuck to my chest because there's shrapnel playing taps against my heart? Okay...okay. So we can figure out how to connect two people by their thoughts through a giant metal machine that walks and kicks ass but we can't get shrapnel out of my heart?!"

Those last few words? That's a growl. A growl coupled with terrible morning breath. Sorry about that. He's a little stale.

From:

aggravated

"I wish I knew what to tell you, Stark, but I'm not a surgeon." Bruce lets start hold on to him, knowing that right now he probably needs to be grounded more than anything else. "We have a plan that we think is going to work, but it all hinges on you being able to finish the arc reactor." Bruce feels the odd urge to touch Stark'a hair like he would a crying child.

From:

starkingenuity

Maybe because Tony does actually come off a lot of the time just like a crying child so-- So maybe it would be appreciated. Or maybe he'd be pissed off. It's so hard to tell with a man whose personality seems so geared on being something larger than life. Even if, pale and depressingly alone right now, he's anything but.

"The arc reactor. Because it's an electromagnet. But-- Well. Damn. I need a digital pad. And some breath mints, man, I'm killing myself here. And water. And Jarvis. And like...two really hot nurses."

From:

aggravated

"How about I bring you what you need to brush your teeth? Jarvis will be back soon; he hasn't left your side in the last few days and needed a shower and to eat. Ill bring you a pad." Bruce's hand unthinkingly touches Stark's hair, so gentle. "I won't leave until he's back."

From:

starkingenuity

When's the last time he had someone stroke his hair? Hm. The Jenkin twins. Couple months back after the Apostle brought down her first Kaiju. Man, that had been a night! Jarvis hadn't wanted one and Tony was too much of a gentleman to let them go unescorted. No need to fuel sisterly rivalries right? He'd been very good to make sure that they were even by the end of the night too.

His eyelids flutter shut and he sighs through his nose. "It's weird, you know? When I thought it was me with the radiation sickness... All I could think about was what he'd do without me. And now... I can't stop thinking about what I'd do without him. I'm a selfish piece of shit just about all the time, Banner. It's not really sunken in yet but-- How is he?"

From:

aggravated

"He's handling it all well." Surprisingly well. Bruce's hand is slow and steady, even when he doesn't feel either. "Very well. I'm going to make sure he doesn't die. I... I've spent so long trying to figure out a cure for myself, and for Kaiju blue, I think I can find a way."

From:

starkingenuity

Tony just nods. He needs to spend more time with Jarvis, not just.. Well, whatever they do. Together but not together. He takes him for granted. "Thanks," he says, almost glumly, not once chiding Bruce for the coddling.