The Not So Silent Hill

[starkingenuity]

[Continued from: here]

Staring at the little house, Tony was noteably unimpressed. The child and other half of a god (however loosely you wanted to use the term) really ought to have not been so...small. He was expecting more, and the way he stood with his hip out and arms crossed proved it. They'd take a quinjet to the nearest open field and one of Tony's smaller cars after that, loaded into the back of the plane after he'd ripped out a few seats.

With Extremis stable enough to exist in several now fire-breathing and extra strong mice rampaging through specially designed cages to contain them, JARVIS' databases and hacking ability getting them the information they needed to arrive here, and Alessa more or less content with the nurse she and Banner picked out, this had been the next logical step. Even so, he expected it to be a little more difficult.

Wearing a black t-shirt and dark jeans that only accentuated his somewhat femininely proportioned hips and backside, Tony Stark was still Tony Stark and flashiness and he went hand in hand.

Like a brand name.

It didn't help that the yellow convertible was parked across the street, in direct contention with the overall look and feel of the neighbor around it.

"You can knock." He wasn't too keen on touching things other people did.

Comments

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce smiled as Tony played with his hair and he wrapped the leg. He had a thing for getting his hair touched and pulled, but he didn't dare tell Tony, because the man would definitely try to take advantage.

"Can you imagine what would happen if the kids ever tried pushing her around? She'd turn them all into paraplegics." It was funny as a mental image. Some big bully types closing in during lunch, just to be tossed through a window while Alessa kept eating. He doubted it would be so funny in practice.

"Maybe we should work on making her civil with Thor before we consider letting her near children." Bruce clipped the bandage in place and rested his hands on Tony's naked thighs before craning his neck and giving him a soft kiss. "Now get cleaned up. I think we're going to have World War III to deal with downstairs."

[starkingenuity]

That particular brand of kiss made Tony want to play with Bruce's hair a little longer or, better, slip down to the floor with him but-- There would be time enough to play doctor later. For now, they had to get back up to the conference room. "I'll be right there."

Tony stared at himself for a long time in the mirror after he was allowed to be alone and he touched his lined face, brushed out his hair, and sighed.

"You've gotten old," he told himself and went to get a scotch before he joined the sulkers and the righteous and the humble. Tony was none of those things. He was just tired. And limping pretty badly.

Sitting down with a huff, he glanced at Thor and then at Alessa. "You've got to be a little more careful, Lessy. That's going to take a whole lot of cleaning up and I don't really like people I don't know trampling through my home. Our home. Okay?"

"Stark." Thor evidently wanted to be started right away. "What do you know of Ragnorok?"

Tony frowned. "End of the world scenarios aren't really in my bedtime literature, Fabio."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Alessa, at the very least, had the grace to look chastened. That actually meant something coming from her, since she usually did not care who got hurt in in her fits.

Another hint at how she was feeling was the fact that the teddy bear Tony had made her was sitting next to her on her chair. She was seeking comfort in ways she herself deemed socially acceptable.

Bruce was sitting on the edge of the couch, sipping water and frowning at Thor. "The myths from our world say that Ragnarok is the end of the world as we know it. Midgard strays from the ways of tradition, the gods of Asgard lose sight of their responsibilities, and three winters without break, called Fimbulwinter, come. Then the giants overthrow Asgard and submerge the world in the Ginnungagap. It's supposed to rise again after that, renewed."

Bruce took another sip of his water. He might have researched Norse mythology after he found out that Asgard existed.

[starkingenuity]

Tony tilted his head slightly. Huh. So this is how people felt when he decided to open up a can of genius on them. It made him smirk affectionately. "You're turning into a show off," he laughed and leaned back against his own chair. He was glad for the table to lean on. It helped to keep him focused on the present and not on himself.

And yes. It was difficult for him to do!

Thor was not so impressed, likely because he just expected everyone to know what he did. "You are not wrong, Banner," he admitted. "Though perhaps it is more literal than you might imagine. There will be a war. It has always been known that it will stretch across the Nine Realms. Midgard will not be immune but it is Asgard that will suffer and fall first. First, connections to the Realms will fall. And so it has already occurred. Next, a usurper will take up the throne of Asgard. I will see that this does not happen. The great weapons of Surtur will shatter. Frost giants and fire giants will clash. There will be a sundering. All will weep."

His eyes set on Alessa gently.

"You have the blood of fire. There will be another with the blood of ice. I had thought it to be my brother, but he has perished."

It was the first time that Tony had heard that and he pressed his lips together. He didn't want to say he was sorry for Thor's loss. He wasn't.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"You're rubbing off on me," Bruce shot back at Tony, giving him a small smile in return before turning his attention to Thor again, frowning as he listened.

Loki was dead. "I'm sorry." Bruce deeply disliked Loki. He wasn't sorry the maniac was dead. He was sorry that Thor had to go through the grief of losing his brother all over again. That, he could honestly express his condolences for.

But... "Did you say 'blood of ice'?" Bruce glanced at Tony. "We might have found them already."

"You're kidding." One didn't need to be a genius to guess who that might be. Alessa frowned, straightening up in her seat. "You mean Cheryl... that makes much more sense." She looked at Thor, her previous anger apparently forgotten for the moment. "I am supposed to have both. I did, for a bit. It was... it felt like everything on the surface of me was on fire, but my heart, my mind was all cold. I thought it was because it was because my power was keeping it from burning all up."

She folded her hands in her lap, as if talking about her trauma to a stranger is just as casual as having tea.

"But I could see the end of the world coming, so I split myself in half. I guess my other half got all the cold inside me."

[starkingenuity]

Thor was very quiet after that, lost in thought perhaps or just sitting in the realization that his fears were actually coming to pass. A sorcerer often had to be proficient with more than one type of magic but to have fire and ice magics at once was a rare gift. That this girl could also project her image outside of her body was another sign of the troubles to come.

Tony, however, looked halfway impressed. Their little girl was growing up so fast that she might just end the world. He was stiff when he stood. It took all of his effort not to fall over again. "Alessa--" He sat beside her, hand going through her hand before he pulled it back to hover over hers. He'd learned the technique from Banner after watching how he dealt with Alessa. "I told Cheryl how to find us. How close, physically, do you two have to be to merge?"

And more importantly...

"What happens physically when you do? We only want to help you, but if it's going to bring about the destruction of the world...well. You understand why I'm wary."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Alessa looked down at their hands. She didn't smile, but she was comforted by the mimed contact, if the way she leaned towards him was any indication.

"Last time..." Her eyes drifted, not quite focusing on anything. "Mommy made me call her back. Cheryl's a part of me, so when Mommy hurt me, it made Cheryl want to come back to make the pain stop, even if she didn't know why."

That had been the most frustrating thing in the world. She'd let the girl out of hell, and she just came stumbling back in because she was too kind. She had to end the pain of someone she'd never even met.

She'd probably grown out of it by now.

"Mommy had her own power. She needed to make markings and use amplifiers and ask for help, but she made it harder for me to leave my body. I don't know how long I was with Cheryl. I don't know how close we were. My eyes and ears didn't work."

It had taken her a while to erase all the remnants of her mother's spell. So many flickering, indistinct projections. So many labored attempts to wake up and work despite not being able to breathe. So many attempts to force the soul of Lisa Garland to come back, to help her, but that soul was gone, and it didn't deserve to come back to that hospital room.

"But... she touched my hand. She touched it, and we didn't come together right away. That was later. And..."

She closed her eyes, remembering. "I was healed. And older. I felt whole again. I remember glowing, there was light everywhere, it was so pretty..." She opened her eyes again. "Then Kaufmann threw the bottle at me."

[starkingenuity]

"With the poppy," Tony said and sat back, his injured leg held out straight and his other arm draped over the back of his chair. He almost wanted to throw up. Every time Alessa revealed something about herself, it was worse and worse. Tony wasn't sure how they were ever going to pick up the pieces.

He leaned forward to pretend to kiss the top of her head before his eyes settled on Thor.

"There's something growing inside of her body. It's been burned badly and her aging has been completely retarded, at least from what we can tell."

"You wish to make her whole again?" Thor wasn't as slow as his muscle to fat ratio might make others believe. Tony nodded. "Perhaps you should seek out a healer."

"We know how to heal her. It's whatever's inside of her that we want to keep from being...errr....born."

"My mother would have been of great help to you. But there are others who know of her arts."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

The kiss was a surprise. Her expression didn't shift, but it was a surprise. Sometimes she had seen visions of adults kissing children. It was supposed to be an accepted form of affection outside of the Order, right?

Considering Thor and Bruce didn't respond to it at all, she assumed it was.

"Even if you can get it out--" and Alessa was highly skeptical they could "--they'll do the ritual on other little girls. They went through at least a dozen when they got to me. And that's not counting the other ways that are said to summon God."

"There are other ways?" Bruce was deeply concerned by how many children had been burned to death without anyone reporting it. It was even worse that there were apparently ways around it.

"The 21 Sacraments. Mommy convinced a little boy to try that one, but it's a lot harder and less effective than motherhood, so the Order usually sticks to little girls."

[starkingenuity]

"They will not-- Alessa, we're going to stop them from ever hurting another person like they did to you. I promise you that." It would take time. They had HYDRA to deal with too but Tony wasn't certain the two weren't linked...

Or that they couldn't be easily used against each other.

Widow-- The Order seemed to be a female dominated cult. They'd have to find Widow as soon as possible. He was about to bring up his idea when Alessa let them in on the fact that there were, evidently, more than one way to birth a God.

Tony looked pale.

"Do we even want to know what the 21 Sacraments are?" It turned out that no, in fact, he did not. This whole thing was starting to drown him and he slammed his hand down on the table. Standing up took a lot more work. "Thor, you're going to have to tell us if there's anything that can be done to prevent the end of the world. We need to find that occultist flower. And more importantly, we need to make Alessa whole again."

Even if that included getting rid of Cheryl.

Sometimes Tony couldn't keep out the darkness. Frustration made it easier to infiltrate his heart.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Alessa started explaining the 21 Sacraments--how every Sacrament had to be someone with very specific characteristics, how the first ten had to have their hearts ripped out, how the eleventh had to be the killer themselves, how the killer had to be adept enough with the power of Silent Hill to continue influencing the real world from the grave--and then she was interrupted, which was rude, but she'd figured out by now that everyone outside of the Order was really squeamish.

When Tony started talking about making Alessa whole, Bruce tensed his jaw. It was easy for Tony to make sacrifices of life--he could be very callous about the people who died in the fight for good--but Bruce wasn't the same way. He didn't know if he was ready to end the life of the woman in the over-sized coat.

"We're going to make the body whole again." Alessa cut in before he could, staring at the distance, her jaw set. Cheryl. She was willing to kill and maim and torture to get her body back, but she wasn't willing to kill Cheryl. Alessa had created Cheryl, held her in her own arms. Cheryl, unlike Alessa, had a chance at being happy. Alessa wasn't going to have a hand in destroying it.

She smoothed her skirt. She didn't like showing concern for a single human life. It was weak. "The Order is very old. It's at least as old as the pilgrims. There are people from it all over America. Maybe they're outside of America too--I never saw the records. They're in offices, in churches, in social work, in schools, in government... you can't get all of them."

[starkingenuity]

"You really don't know me," Tony said, full of cocky arrogance as he limped his way to the door. "J, I need you to reopen up old SHIELD and military channels. Apply searches for Gillespie, Alessa, 21 Sacraments, The Order, Ragnarok..." The list went on for some time. "Condense and deliver digests every twelve hours."

"Yes sir," the AI replied from the house rather than the teddy bear.

Thor did not watch the Man of Iron go, he was too busy trying to study Alessa, his head slightly tilted. "I can obtain the drought you need. It will require a consultation with the All-Father." Which might be difficult considering how Thor had gotten his leave of Asgard to begin with. "I will return once I am able to secure the required ingredients. Banner, I would suggest keeping the Blood of Fire and the Blood of Ice from intermingling. Perhaps it will help to stem off the flow barreling down ahead of us."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"You're just going to find news articles..." Alessa muttered, propping her head on her fist. She knew that there was the occasional editorial out there trying to shed light on the violence of the Order, and she had absolutely no doubt that the fire at her house and her own subsequent 'death' had been reported on. There were probably other things, maybe the stray records in a social worker's office complaining about the strange and abusive conditions in an orphanage or family, but the Order had been taught to keep everything on old-fashioned, easily destroyed paper and in oral tradition. The Order wasn't a stranger to attempts at uncovering their secrets.

What Alessa wasn't aware of was that there was now a website. One designed to invite people to join the Order. It had none of the sordid details or the mythology or the teachings--it made it sound like a quiet, kind alternative religion from Christianity or Islam or any other popular faith. It had an email and a phone number to contact for more information, but attempts to hack the email and see what was inside the inbox would reveal that all emails were meticulously deleted, probably after whatever conversations had were had. An attempt to figure out where the number led to would reveal it was based in Silent Hill.

"Thank you so much for helping us." Bruce stood up to shake Thor's hand, hopefully escaping one of his bone-crushing hugs. "We really appreciate it."

[thunderboltsandlightning]

"I only desire to be allowed to help everyone on Midgard," Thor said, still not entirely sure how the handshake worked. His grip was a little too strong. His cool blue eyes settled again on Alessa as he stood. "I do believe that you and I wish for the same outcome. I can not trust you as of yet but I will attempt to alleviate us all from the burden you might pose on humanity."

It was rude but Thor had a different culture and an exceptionally long growing up period behind him. What was fine to say on Asgard wasn't entirely nice on Earth, but unless people told him (and even when they did), he had no way of policing himself.

His departure left Bruce and Alessa alone for a little while as Tony went to take something for the pain and lay down. He was hoping to find sloppy people in the digests JARVIS would prepare for him. This was an information age and kids got cocky. He got cocky too, though. Too bad the NSA hadn't managed to block him out totally yet.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Alessa wasn't one to mind blunt unkindness. It was what she was used to.

She gave Thor a civil nod before he left. Then she sat down with Bruce while he filled her in on what happened with Cheryl.

If Tony used the NSA's networks, he'd invariably find something. There wasn't a lot of good stuff, though--usually people just casually mentioning to their friends or family that they had joined a religion called The Order, and some records of donations to the church, though from what can be gleaned from the emails, the churches seemed to prefer cash donations. From the location of the emails, one could deduce the location of some of the churches, but not necessarily all the members or how involved they were in the Order's less savory dealings.

Although there was something--it seemed the incident had been too early for the NSA to pick up emails dealing with it directly, but there were whispers of ex-prison guards casually mentioning a Walter Sullivan, who babbled about completing the 21 Sacraments before being arrested for ten murders and then killing himself in his cell. There are also whispers of adults talking about orphanages who abused them and seemed to be affiliated with the Order. None of the emails came from actual members, though.

[starkingenuity]

There would be time enough for Tony to find those things out. He didn't expect JARVIS to have anything prepared for him for several hours and even then, he wanted to go through it all with a fine tooth comb. This was something for spies, not for adults that genuinely displayed characteristics of ADD, but it was what it was.

In the bed he'd shared with Bruce for some time now, stripped down to his underwear and his bandage, Tony laid on his back and watched the ceiling's moving shadows. "J-- Patch me into Cap." He sighed, already annoyed at himself. Bruce was better at handling people and he and Steve didn't have the best track record.

It took ten minutes to get a good connection and Steve had to threatened to hang up before Tony actually said anything.

"I know Banner told you what happened, but you have to make a detour from your ghost hunt."

"Stark, I don't--"

"I'm not good at asking for help, okay? But I need it. I need all of you. Thor just dropped by, but we need Barton and Widow too. I think it's time we got the gang back together again before I end up destroying the world. I know that you know how to get in touch with them. Winter Soldier will be there when this is over."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce and Alessa had an interesting relationship. They understood each other, understood the battle between rage and compassion. They knew what it was like to feel all alone and hunted. They knew what it felt like to hide in their rooms and avoid even going to the bathroom for fear of drawing attention.

When she was corporeal, when they could really touch her, Bruce had no doubt that she had an expectation to be hit. To be treated as she once was. It was their job to put her at ease, to not get angry and to not threaten to hurt her.

Eventually, he put her teddy bear next to her body, and left her to lie next to it and ask JARVIS questions a computer could never give a satisfactory answer to. "JARVIS, what do you think a human life is worth? What do you think you owe to the people who conceive and birth you?"

Bruce went down to Tony's room (his room too, now) and knocked on the door softly, just in case Tony had fallen asleep. He would probably need it, with how active the day had been. "Tony?"

[starkingenuity]

Pushing himself up on one elbow, Tony smirked at the door. "You don't have to knock," he said for what felt like the fiftieth time and tried to sit without wincing. The bruise was bad and deep but JARVIS had scanned him and confirmed that it didn't go as far as his bone. He'd be fine with a few days of rest and alternating ice and heat.

He had an ice pack on it now and since hanging up with Steve, he'd gone back to sketching out engines and prototype suits in his head. Bruce was a welcome distraction.

"Big, loud and crushy's gone?" He didn't need to ask, JARVIS told him when the Thunderer left. "And you put Alessa to bed." Or otherwise, the girl would have followed Bruce here to ask her impossible questions while she stared at them from the bottom of the bed. "Rogers will be here tomorrow morning. He's assembling the Avengers."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"Good. We'll need all the help we can get."

Bruce walked into the room, closing the door behind him before sitting on the bed beside Tony. He casually started to unbutton his shirt, glancing over at Tony's leg with no small amount of concern. He didn't often sleep with a shirt on.

"Alessa asked if your leg was okay. I think she feels guilty for hurting you." He shrugged off his shirt, letting it drop to the floor. "How is it?"

[starkingenuity]

"It's just a deep tissue bruise according to the scans," Tony said, fingers spidering over one of Bruce's hands before climbing up to the middle of his inner elbow. He touched when he could, what he could. A little tinkering of his fingers down some ribs was called for next.

Maybe Bruce was what Tony would traditionally term beautiful but that didn't mean he didn't find him sexy. And it wasn't entirely for his mind either.

"I don't want to discourage a little guilt," Tony smirked. "It's all we have to go on. That said, I'd rather not be caught in the crossfire again just to prove the point either." He traced little patterns in what he could reach of Bruce's back. "We should order in some pizza."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

A smile teased the edges of Bruce's lips. He didn't touch Tony in return--he was always wary of being too sensual, of crossing a line and giving into temptation, so he made it a personal rule that they wouldn't start caressing each other at the same time unless there was some circumstance that guaranteed it wouldn't have a chance to turn into something else.

"We'll talk to her. We'll explain we're both a little too old to handle her getting too violent."

And they were getting older. Both of them were brushed with gray, both of them had wrinkles and crinkles in the corners of their eyes... but Bruce didn't mind. He rather liked his age, and all the things it taught him. He liked Tony's, too. Tony could be a hundred and Bruce would still want him, though.

"We should. I don't think we had dinner today, did we? I guess between all the gods and doomsday stuff, we forgot."

Tony's fingers left goosebumps in their wake. Bruce could feel the patterns forming, curling along his skin like invisible tattoos.

He looked up and smiled, giving Tony's cheek a small, chaste kiss. "I'd tell you how sexy you are right now, but I don't want to blow up your ego even more."

[starkingenuity]

"JARVIS--"

"Already been done, sir. The usual order. It will arrive in approximately nineteen minutes."

Good, Tony thought to himself. One less thing to worry over. He laid back against the pillows as Bruce's skin puckered under his fingers and smirked into the kiss. He could deal with them from time to time, but Bruce was very guarded with his affection and sometimes...all the time...Tony wanted more. He did his best not to push but pushing just had to be done from time to time.

Otherwise, they would get no where.

"I think you just like to tease me," Tony said, not entirely without a hint of frustration to his words. He knew Banner found him sexy...being reminded was...

Well, it was like a carrot he couldn't get.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"Think of it as me giving you something to think about later."

Bruce regretted not being intimate with Tony, but he'd be lying if he ever said he didn't like the idea of the man touching himself to thoughts of him. Bruce was forced to stay celibate in every sense of the word, but that didn't stop him from imagining and wishing.

He wondered if he could do things to Tony. It was possible, if he could keep himself from getting too worked up and Tony from trying to touch him. Sometimes, he really wanted to try, but Tony had a bad habit of trying to take a mile for every inch he gave, and he wasn't sure if it was smart to open that door.

But he could fantasize.

Trying unsuccessfully to banish those thoughts, Bruce instead gave Tony another chaste kiss, this one on the mouth.

[starkingenuity]

Tony might take the hand outs if his own hands were otherwise occupied but neither of them might really take to tie-up games too well for a little while. The trust was there but the implications were a little too much to deal with. Besides, Tony wasn't just a taker and it would frustrate him to no end to be left satisfied and Bruce wandering off to wash his hands or brush his teeth.

Instead...chaste kisses. But that wouldn't do and so Tony rolled Bruce onto his side and, half leaning over him, forced his lips apart with the tip of his tongue. He probably could have been a little more gentle but they'd had another scare today and Tony still bore the scars of it.

He wanted closeness. He'd keep Bruce's clothing on but he would take a kiss. A real kiss. Not the sort he imagined Steve Rogers gave to people.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce wouldn't really want to deal with bondage, at least not yet. He freaked out when he was too thoroughly restrained, and he knew that Tony wasn't too fond of it either. Those were the consequences of what had been done to the both of them.

Though their chastity was ultimately a result of what Bruce had done to himself in his moment of arrogance.

"Don't get me excited," Bruce warned softly, but he let Tony take his kisses. They were heated. Rough. He tangled his fingers in Tony's hair, resting his other hand on his lover's shoulder. It was always his instinct to bite and scratch, to mark what was his, but he was very careful about keeping his affections properly restrained. He wasn't the sort to take risks where those he loved were concerned, and those instincts were too close to that of the Hulk's for him to be entirely comfortable.