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

[starkingenuity]

Of the healers not chanting, not working their runes or siphoning their power into the girl, one old woman strode towards them in pearl gray robes, a serene, timeless expression on her face. "Welcome," she said, nodding her head at Thor. "You may leave us."

Thor looked grateful. "Thank you. There are matters I wish to attend to..." And he left without another word.

"He wishes to visit friends," the old woman supplied. "I am Eir. And you must be the girl whose body we are repairing." The paleness of her eyes settled on Alessa. "We have news for you, both good and perhaps not what you might wish to hear. Your skin, youd body, that we will repair, replacing each piece as it might have been should you have never walked upon the world. Though you will feel no pain, you will be as a newborn babe and must learn to use yourself again from the start, including simple tasks as even lifting your head."

Tony winced. "And the not so good?"

"The artifact inside her we can neutralise but not remove. It is too much a part of her."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce flinched at the thought. There would be a very long road of recovery ahead, if they couldn't find a way to give her a shortcut.

Alessa, on the other hand, listened to the news quietly without any expression. She watched the machine put her body together again, the soft new skin and the red muscle.

"If it's inside me, they'll never be able to put it into someone else." She nodded towards Eir. "That's good news, then. Thank you."

[starkingenuity]

Thank you? Tony arched both eyebrows at Bruce over Alessa's head and gestured at her before he mouthed the two words with a nod. Evidently, they'd been rubbing off. She might never learn to knock and she might take a lifetime to smile more than once a year, but it was progress. Tony let Bruce go poking around (he'd poke around himself but he couldn't rectify technology verses magic and so he was much more interested in Alessa herself.

He'd once heard that if you showed a man in your past the technology of today, he'd think it magic and if you showed a man of today magic, he'd think it technology. Well, Tony was really very comfortable being on the techn band wagon.

"How long is all of this going to take?" he asked Eir, arms crossed over his suit jacket.

"A few hours, perhaps less but the process does take time," she cautioned even though Tony's eyes widened. So quickly?

"Hou-- Oh. Okay then. Good. Hey, Banner, how about we have a look around before whatever feast Odin has planned for us." Who knew how long they had here after Alessa was healed.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce tore his eyes away from the re-forming body, from the machines and tech, and looked back at Tony. "Maybe we should..."

"You can go." Alessa's tone was curt as she crossed her arms and watched the body expressionlessly. "I don't need you holding my hand."

Bruce glanced down at her, instinctively rubbing his chin to give his hands something to do.

Then he clasped his hands again. "Okay. Can you find us if you need us?"

"I can always find you." Her face was as neutral as it was the day Tony fell through a graveyard into a prison cell. "Go ahead. I'll stay here."

[starkingenuity]

"Think she has a tracking system? Or is it chemical?" They'd already been over half of the palace before Tony finally stopped to ask for directions to get to the city itself. The guards couldn't help following them, they were likely told to do so by Odin. The less royal or royally employed Asgardians, however, couldn't keep their mouths shut and gaped as they pair walked down cobbled streets between golden, arching buildings. Children had to be taken by the hand before they ran after them in an entourage.

Tony was use to that, however. He found it all to be very normal.

"Because she really always can seem to find us. Which has me thinking about date nights." Yes, he was just going to keep talking as if they were hanging out in the lab at the Tower instead of on Asgard, smelling alien baked goods and interrupting every day folk on what had likely been a normal day for them.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce was getting more used to the attention when he went out in public, especially when he was with Tony or he left himself recognizable as 'that guy who turns into the Hulk', but it was still jarring to see it in such a strange place. He hung close to Tony, trying to not gape as he glanced around, taking in all the sights and sounds.

It was strange. It reminded him of some of the areas he had been to before, and yet at the same time, it was nothing like anywhere on Earth.

"Maybe it's like what she said about those monsters: once they're 'invited' someplace, they can always come back. It might be that she leaves some kind of psychic marker on people she interacts with." Clearly, she couldn't maintain that forever, otherwise she would know more about the people she used to call her friends. Or perhaps that was an ability she only got when she went through that hellish ritual?

[starkingenuity]

"Okay, am I the only one pretty cool with having a psychic marker on me? Am I?" Tony felt important. Despite the world he lived in, he didn't always feel that way. He might have been amazing, he might have been a consummate genius, but he still lived in his father's entirely too long shadow. He was still trying to surpass him. And he was pretty sure that Alessa was the way.

No, he'd never gotten over that selfish, self important steak of his.

That might be an issue along the way.

A little girl broke free of her mother and ran up to the pair, holding up some sort of sticky bun wrapped in red silk. Tony just blinked at it. He wasn't exactly good with being handed things, so he looked instead to Banner. "What do we do with it," he stage whispered.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Tony would always be selfish and self-important. Luckily, Bruce loved him anyway.

Bruce resisted the urge to fondly roll his eyes at Tony before crouching down to the girl's level and accepting the sticky bun with a warm smile. "Thank you very much." He cocked his head, still smiling in a way that only children really could get him to smile. "What's your name?"

While Tony could really only deal with children who reminded him of himself, Bruce had a special soft spot for kids. More than once, street kids took advantage of it, but he didn't mind. He usually allowed them to do it.

[starkingenuity]

Bruce's love of kids confused Tony. He'd never been wanted, he'd been abused and a whole lot less than loved. So for Bruce to be willing to lend his heart out to another, for him to even know how, was pretty remarkable. Tony felt around in his front pocket for a handkerchief and he tapped on Bruce's shoulder to hand it over so that he could pay for the gift with one of his own.

Why not? It was only a piece of cotton hand-embroidered in silk and worth more than Bruce's clinic in India probably, but he had a drawer full of them. The way the girl's face lit up was priceless any way and Tony actually felt sort of proud.

His smile bloomed on his face as it did on hers, quite without asking his permission first. He had it when his emotions showed anything other than asshole arrogance. Damn it. "You're rubbing off on me," he told Bruce as they kept going. "And why do they all speak English?"

[honeyibrokeharlem]

“Oh no, someone besides Alessa or me might find out you have a heart,” Bruce teased gently, but he was smiling and warm, because little was as endearing as watching Tony Stark and a small child smile at each other. It made him want to kiss him, but he was a private man and had only just gotten comfortable kissing in private, let alone public.

He unfolded the red silk as they walked away to tear a small piece off of the sticky bun, offering it to Tony. Maybe it was just him, but he’d always been able to tell that Tony had genuine compassion beneath all the bravado. He’d never understood how it was so easy for other people to not see it.

“I was wondering that myself, actually. It makes no sense for them to develop a nearly identical language to English. It doesn’t make much sense for them to evolve to look human, either.” He’ll take a tiny bite of the bun himself. Yum. “There are more similarities than differences here. They have identical language, identical appearance, and have developed a kind of government that we’ve been using for thousands of years. You can explain some of that away, but not all of it.”

He started gesturing with his free hand, not paying attention to the slightly bemused looks he was getting. “Language and ideas about government—that might have just been exported. After all, Asgardians supposedly showed up at Earth before, and that’s how we get the Norse mythology. Maybe some Asgardians came even before the Vikings, then stuck around and shared language and culture with humans. The biological similarities? Not as easy to explain. You don’t export biology.”

Huh. Maybe their species were distantly related somehow. It was interesting to think about.

[starkingenuity]

"But why English?" Tony asked, pressing for that one, simple answer. It was bugging him. "Shouldn't they speak some sort of Germanic derivative? Old Norse? Swedish or one of the Norwegian languages?" It just bothered him. The biology didn't so much, though he did wonder if they were able to interbreed with humans, or if their technology and magic made it all possible. "Ooh, what if it's like the TARDIS?"

Tony was more of a Star Wars fan to Doctor Who, but he use to catch it on TV in the 70s when that guy with the never ending scarf and the afro use to be on it. He liked the robotic dog. It was why he had created DUM-E in the first place.

"A universal translator? Hm. I should work on that. Add it to the list. Which, by the way, has me thinking. We can still use Extremis on Alessa. If that growth is neutralized, we can still give her the ability to walk again without a few decades of physical therapy."

Tony's ability to move between topics was jarring.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

“TARDIS…?” Yeah. Bruce had no idea what Doctor Who was, since he didn’t watch much TV growing up and preferred to spend his time reading, but it was probably just another of Tony’s weird pop culture references.

But at the mention of Alessa, he sucked in a breath. “I was thinking the same thing. Even with physical therapy, she’d be well through college before she could even get out of a wheelchair.” She wasn’t a toddler anymore. Even if her brain was plastic enough to re-learn walking and talking, she had the muscles of a newborn in the body of a seven-year-old. Her own weight would keep her from developing as she would have if she were younger. “We have no idea what Extremis will do to her power. She could end up exploding things without meaning to.”

If that were the case, they would need to put her somewhere blast-proof while she figured it out. Tony, her nurses, anyone without some kind of super ability would be too fragile to be near her.

Somehow, he doubted she would mind if she could learn how to walk again.

[starkingenuity]

"Never mind," Tony laughed, his hand falling to the small of Bruce's back. He was use to having pretty women on his arm, and this was just one of the old fashioned ways Tony still struggled with. Hopefully Bruce didn't mind the gentle guiding. Tony just wasn't a hand holder. He was still eating the piece of sticky bun when he gathered what it was Bruce was getting at when it came to Alessa and her powers...and lack of control.

That made him frown. "Well, I keep saying that I want to go to the beach," he mused. "I have a property far enough away from civilization that we could introduct Extremis to her in."

We. He was not, not, going to get Bruce and Alessa go, not even for a day. He was going with.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce definitely noticed the hand on his back, and frowned a little at it, knowing it was supposed to be affectionate and yet not exactly sure what it's meant to be.

It took him a moment before he realized, oh right. Then he felt a little silly, because he'd done the same thing to women once or twice. It felt strange to be on the other end of it.

But it didn't matter. He couldn't help but frown at Tony. "Tony... it'll be dangerous." And Tony, unlike Bruce, didn't have a monster keeping him alive. He had seen the careless destruction Alessa could create when she was annoyed. He didn't want to see what would happen if she couldn't control herself.

[starkingenuity]

"Of course it will be dangerous," Tony replied, stopping under an apple covered arbor that stretched high over their heads. He took Bruce by the hand for a moment, just to make the other man face him. The guards gave them their space, but stoically watched just the same. "Banner, our lives are dangerous. I stablized Extremis. I could teach you what to do if there's a formula malfunction, you could contact me remotely, but I don't want that."

He wanted to be in the action.

"What if something breaks? I could take you through it, but that could take too much time and two sets of hands are better than one. Besides..."

I need to be there if the Other Guy pops out.

"You're my family. Don't take my family from me, Bruce. Not this time. Not with this. I need to be there."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce glanced at the guards, chewing the inside of his cheek. He always felt self-conscious when being affectionate in public. He was a private person, even when one didn't take into account what years of hiding did to him.

But this was important, so he looked away from the guards and just paid attention to Tony. "I don't want to lose you either, Tony. Neither of us do."

And that was what could happen. He could be hurt or killed, because they didn't understand Alessa's power beyond the fact that it was incredibly destructive. If she lost control, she might accidentally hurt Bruce, and then he could lose control. Bruce was reasonably sure she could handle the Hulk, at the very least until she could get to a mirror, but that meant there could be crossfire to be trapped in.

He didn't trust the Hulk to be reasonable, even around Tony. Just because it was good with him once didn't mean he could trust it to listen to him. In Bruce's mind, the Hulk could only be pointed in a certain direction, never stopped, and if that direction had nothing to destroy? It would turn on whoever was around it.

At least, that was his working theory. He didn't dare experiment. He didn't want Tony put in a position where he might face that without any kind of protection.

What would Bruce do without Tony? He didn't know if he could help Alessa alone.

[starkingenuity]

Right. Bruce loved him. Bruce wanted him to stick around for as long as possible. Being in a relationship was...strange. He'd learned how to work around it with Pepper because Pepper had been worrying about him when she was just his personal assistant. They had grown comfortable enough with each other that Pepper use to buy her own presents. But Bruce was brand new. Not only that, they had the same intellect. Not only that, but Bruce was a man and Tony was never good with making men like him or understanding their needs.

It always hit him so hard that he might be missed. Tony lifted his hand to brush against Bruce's cheek. "If I can figure out how to make it safe, I'll get to stay, all right? If it's too risky... I mean an acceptable risk, okay? If it's too much, I'll stay in New York and we'll Skype it."

Did they have a deal? Tony could only turn the charm on so high with Bruce. Bruce could see through his bullshit.

"I just want to be apart of this. I know it's weird but... This is going to make her ours. I kinda want that."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce worked his jaw, weighing the deal in his head. He was eternally cautious, always waiting for the other shoe to drop and for all the good things he had recently been given to be taken away. He didn't want Tony near anything that could break him, kill him, make him leave--

But Bruce couldn't just keep the people he cared about in a bubble. People couldn't live like that. More than anything, Tony couldn't live like that. He was a hedonist, a daredevil, and more than anything, he was just someone who enjoyed life in a way Bruce never let himself do. Tony Stark was willing to meet him halfway and try to make things as safe as possible--Bruce could do the same.

Bruce hesitated, then leaned forward, brushing his lips very lightly against Tony's before pulling away again. "You have a deal. We'll both try to make it as safe as possible. We're going to bring a little girl home who will learn how to walk."

[starkingenuity]

Though Alessa could not do much with the feast, Tony still cut up some of whatever delicious meat they were eating was and made sure she had juice. He'd been doing that from the start. It was accidental at first, but slowly (and perhaps because Alessa always gave the illusion of meeting their touch or trying to do what would be expected of a real girl sitting between them) it had become habit. She was as real to Tony as anything else. She could make herself be felt even if she could feel nothing in response.

Not yet at least. The healers were working on giving that back to her and Tony and Bruce would seal the deal but making her functional again.

Thor was noticeably absent from the feast but Odin was there and he and Alessa kept giving each other strange little looks-- Or maybe Tony was just seeing things. Asgardian ale was so much stronger than even the scotch he was use to and while he tried to go easy on the alcohol because of Bruce's issues with it, he couldn't help himself this time.

Accidental drunkenness could be forgiven, right? Even when he climbed up on the table to toast their hosts...?

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce warned him about the alcohol, but did he listen? Noooooooo...

As Tony hoisted himself onto the table, Bruce rubbed his temple and flashed an apologetic look towards Odin, hoping that Thor's loud and boisterous mannerisms were common here.

"Sorry, Alessa," he murmured to her softly.

She shrugged, to this day not sure what she's supposed to do when she has food in front of her. "I stopped caring about being embarrassed a long time ago."

Bruce gave her a smile and mimed ruffling her hair. As Tony got to thanking Odin for having them, Alessa sent a small smirk in Odin's direction. Bruce hadn't the slightest what had passed between Alessa and the All-Father, but whatever it was, it seemed to be profound. He was curious, but considering they were being given all the resources of Asgard, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

[starkingenuity]

"And so, in closing--" Most of the people around the long tables looked utterly confused by what was happening, their goblets still lifted up high while Tony literally pontificated about nothing at all. He'd started slurring words when he got up to the part where he peed in his suit (which didn't really work when he wasn't wearing the armor and the joke was so overdone it really wasn't that funny anyway) and half fell backwards when Odin rose to thank him mid-sentence.

"Let us continue with the feast! Another course, yes, yes, and bring some apple juice for our guest." There was twittering from the crowd after that, but as Tony required help getting back into his seat and half passed out once he got there, nose inches from some sort of squash soup, it was just as well.

The apple juice at least had a restorative sort of quality to it, enough of one to perk him up and finish a big slice of cake while he gazed dreamily at Banner. "Your eyes are like Turkish coffee."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce started to sigh softly and hide his face once Tony got into nonsense. By the time Tony was revived and giving him bedroom eyes, Bruce had long since realized that he was far too sober for this.

"Why Turkish?" Luckily, Tony was not at all the kind of drunk Bruce's father had been. Brian Banner used to get angry and mean when he was drinking. Tony just got... silly. And apparently, flirty.

"Please tell me you're not going to start when I'm in the middle," Alessa piped up, looking supremely annoyed by this development. "His staring is bad enough when he's sober. If you start making out, I'm gone."

"You don't need to worry about that, Alessa." They were, after all, in public.

[starkingenuity]

Tony had to agree with that...to a point at least. "I'll be sure to put my hands over your eyes first," he teased Alessa. "It's not my fault you're short and easy to lean over."

It was true that Tony was a silly drunk and when in love, he was a silly, in love drunk. He wiggled an eyebrow at Bruce, stopping only at the look Alessa gave him. Oh, that did make him laugh, and laugh sweetly.

Any look Bruce gave him was taken with a grain of salt and a little bit of a comment dripping with innuendo before most of the guests filtered out in pairs or groups to do whatever it is well born Asgardians happened to do after feasting with the All-Father.

It was right about that time that they were informed that Alessa's body was whole again and, luckily, Tony was actually able to walk back to the healing pavilion without having to lean on Bruce, the walls, or poor Alessa's projection.

"Oh, for the record, Turkish because of how strong they are. You really have no idea how attractive you are, Bruce Banner. No comments from the peanut gallery on that one either, Lessy."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Alessa was tense. Her expression didn't change, but she hung closer to Tony and Bruce, her projection radiating humid warmth. "The peanut gallery comments on what it wants!" She looked up at Bruce, then tilted her head. "...I think you look nice. It's easier for me to tell if a girl's pretty than if a boy's handsome."

Bruce arched one eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah." She frowned ever so slightly. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No reason."

Alessa normally would have probed, but instead, she just looked forward, smoothing her skirt slowly.

Then they got to the medical room, the corners of her mouth tightened. A body, breathing, without machines or tubes, lying on its back with its arms by its sides. It was hairless, without a single scar or blemish, and it looked like it was asleep.

Just a sleeping little girl.

Alessa hung back further, staring at the body with her mouth in a grim line.

[starkingenuity]

Tony, however, went immediately towards her, only to have a healer stop him. "She is quite suseptible to illness in this state. You will need to contain the air she breathes for some time, control her temperature...think of her as an infant."

Tony glanced back at Bruce and frowned. He'd never been around an infant before. They were all screaming without teeth and shitting and not much else. He wasn't sure what to do other than get her a blanket and a beanie cap to keep the heat in. He decided not to touch Alessa's body, even though he wanted to. "But she's all right?"

"She's perfect again. She will function, though she will need your help feeding her and cleaning her. She may not be able to talk until her tongue becomes more muscular but she can breathe and swallow on her own." Eir turned to Alessa and crouched down, hands folded over her knees. "Would you like to test it out? You will need to let us know if you feel any pain from your body. We will be able to fix that before you leave here."