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]

"Let Spider-Man have something to do for once," Tony muttered and, because his body was so use to doing it without his mind or emotions playing in on it, as Bruce passed him, he gently put his hand to guide the other man with him. To where? The bedroom.

Tony kept his things packed just in case. He figured that Bruce himself had a bug out bag. It would be in one of the massive closets in the bedroom, obviously.

Too bad he couldn't really afford to pack all of his roll away luggage. He doubted he'd need ten different watches any way. "We have to protect Alessa." It wasn't about being single minded or parental. She was their best bet to avoid something catastrophic like the end of the whole universe happening.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce always had a packed bag. One didn't shake off a decade of running. He would always be ready to leave at a moment's notice.

He grabbed his bag from the closet. It's small and easily slung over his shoulder. "We'll keep her safe."

Even though she probably could keep herself safe just fine, Bruce was ready to protect her. It wasn't just about the universe--it was about a man wanting to take care of a child who no one had taken care of before.

"You need to stay safe too. You don't have a suit protecting you now." And that had to be said too. Bruce didn't know what he would do without Tony.

[starkingenuity]

"That's on the list," Tony said, his luggage equalling three pieces total to Bruce's tiny overnight bag. He didn't make a comment about it, just directed DUM-E to take everything to the landing pad. JARVIS filled them in, briefly, on the location of the artist and lucky, Manhattan traffic was going to keep them safely on their way in the next fifteen minutes.

Tony had enough time to grab another coffee and...steal just a moment with Bruce.

He took the scientist's hand in his own. The touch was nothing short of electric. Tony's eyes glowed. "And I'm going to pencil in a little reverse memory loss too. Lessy thinks she can help."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce was single-minded, thinking only about what they needed and how to leave and why HYRDA might be trying to get them, when Tony's hand touched his and all the focus disappeared.

He bit the inside of his cheek, trying to control the emotional roller coaster inside of him. Alessa might be able to fix it.

"That's good." Bruce's words were very mild, but the way he squeezed Tony's hand wasn't. "Are you two sure that it's safe to try, though?"

[starkingenuity]

"Honestly? No idea. I'm leaning towards probably not." It could do more damage. He could lose the part of him that made him him. He could forget important information. He could really be reduced to a mechanic. "It's my head. That's got to be dangerous."

But, and it was a rather large but, Tony wanted the chance to remember. He wanted what he had seen in the recordings. He wanted that feeling.

Making it up again with Bruce wouldn't be the end of the world, but it still wouldn't be the same.

"It's worth it."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"Tony..."

Bruce was still biting the inside of his cheek. He hesitated, then came closer, resting his chin on Tony's shoulder. He could smell the man's cologne.

"Learn how dangerous it is. We can work things out on our own if it's too risky."

Maybe it wouldn't be quite the same, but it would be something. They would still have Tony, and there wouldn't be a chance of Alessa ravaging his mind.

[starkingenuity]

Okay. So he did stiffen up again, but that was his mind, and not his body, telling him that he didn't like people so close. The flinch dissolved just a moment later and the hug he'd forgotten how much he liked was just enough to make Tony resolved in recapturing what he'd lost.

He held Bruce too tightly. He clung. It was somewhere between a mannish clasp and a trembling hug. He wanted to hold and be held. They just didn't have the time for it.

"Later," he said, the heat if his breath catching in the curls around Bruce's ear. "After this." If Alessa high on Extremis didn't kill him.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

The flinch stung for a moment. The embrace made up for it.

Bruce took a moment to just breathe Tony in, to feel his breath on his ear. Time was too short.

But life was unfair. He took a deep breath and stepped back. "Later."

He compartmentalized. He had to get everything together. They had to leave.

He gave Tony a quick peck on the cheek before he got back to work, though.

[starkingenuity]

"I'll hold you to that. And the really ridiculously pitiful kiss," Tony said, making everything flirty because that was the sort of man he was. Flirting just came naturally, it always had. He'd been flirting with Bruce since they'd met after all. Nothing changed. Minus the fact that they sometimes got naked together. Sort of. Tony was mostly curious about how they managed sex...he hadn't seen any on screen.

And from what he knew of Bruce, elevated heart rate could and often did call down the Hulk. Huh. Something to dwell on later too.

Later, later, later.

Tony was just going to have to be patient.

A man in his twenties with white-boy dreads and a long goatee was waiting in the living room as Tony moved past him. "You. With me."

"Y-You're--"

"Tony Stark. Yes. Hi. Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk. Hello, introductions complete. Let's go."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce gave the artist a little nod of acknowledgement. This was probably going to be the weirdest day of the poor man's life.

"We're going to need to be working in the air today. I hope you have all your equipment."

Alessa already had packed her body into the quinjet. It was lying naked on a bed, arms crossed over its chest and eyes closed. Bruce went through a mental check list of everything they needed and cross-referenced it with a mental list of what they had. They were ready.

"This is going to get strange," Bruce said to the artist as they took off while he examined the controls to make sure everything was in order. "Your client is right in there," he gestured to the door leading to a bedroom allocated to Alessa. "Believe me when I say that doing your work accurately is important."

Chances were that the man had never tattooed someone so young, let alone someone who seemed to have absolutely no control over themselves. Alessa's projection lounged near the head of the bed, watching her sleeping face in fascination.

[starkingenuity]

"Woah, woah woah... Am I on TV or something? Is this like...a sting or something?" The young tattooer stroked his chin before he glanced at the young girl sitting by the body of...another young girl. "Because, haha, very funny... I could lose my liscence. I could go to jail!" he complained, and he kept on complaining until Tony stuffed his pockets with enough money to make him hitch up his skinny jeans again. "Uh--"

"Is it still a problem?" he asked and the kid swallowed. "Didn't think so. Okay, Alessa, show our main man-- What's your name, kid?"

"Tyler." Tyler. Oh God.

"Of course it is. Okay, show Tyler what we need to do. Banner, everything good to go? J? How's the flight schedule? I want us in French waters in the next few minutes."

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"Everything looks okay from here," Bruce said, adjusting his glasses and double-checking to be sure.

Alessa, for her part, looked up from her body and glanced at the artist, looking unsettlingly like a lion eyeing a wounded antelope.

"This is possibly the most important piece you'll ever do. If you don't do it right, people will die."

It was entirely possible that the only reason she was sharing that knowledge with him was to see him squirm. Alessa wasn't a very nice little girl.

She held out her hands, the Seal of Metatron appearing in glowing red between them. "This is your design. It's going to go on the back. Make it as big as you can without distorting the design. The bigger, the better." She paused, then cocked her head. "Do people usually bleed when they get tattoos? Because there needs to be blood involved."

[starkingenuity]

Alessa wouldn't have to worry. Tattoos bled. Especially because the subject was so young and the back he would be working on was so delicate. Money, fear and a healthy hero worship helped Tyler get over most of his reservations. He drew the tattoo on with perfection once the quinjet was in the air and stabalized.

When he took the gun to the girl's skin, however, he balked. "A-Are you sure--"

"Yes," Tony said from the cockpit area. He wasn't going to watch that. Tyler could be saddled with his nightmares on this. And Bruce... Well, Bruce had seen her at her worst. This wouldn't be a problem.

There was no more murmuring from the young artist once he started, however. His craft, at least, took all of his attention.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce would watch and make sure Alessa was okay. He was ready to watch her through anything. He had so many nightmares anyway--a few more couldn't hurt.

The projection of Alessa sat next to the body, her head bowed and her hands pressed together, murmuring soft and fast. Her face was smooth of lines and stress. Serene. Even as the room became warmer and blood sprung up behind the gun's path. It couldn't have been pleasant, but one wouldn't think it looking at the girl. The body continued to breathe easy, and Alessa continued to murmur.

The lines, as they grew, burned hot and glowed softly. The projection looked out of place there. She looked like she belonged in a church, somewhere in the pews with her head pressed against wood and her mind contemplating God.

Bruce has never been a religious man, but it's still somehow touching to watch a little girl so deep in her own faithful rapture.

Even though what was happening? Probably wouldn't be particularly acceptable in most churches.

[starkingenuity]

Eyes front. Tony guided the quinjet through hazy New York skies and despite the all too interesting sounds of Alessa chanting back there, decided not to turn around. It was probably like some sort of Indiana Jones film and he really didn't want his face melted off. Bruce had survived his trial. Tyler...well he was doing so-called 'God's' work. Tony had enough on his plate and didn't want to deal with Silent Hill any time soon.

Because they weren't in a commercial jet, because Tony could fly the craft far below usual altitude, they would be in French airspace in half the time. That still meant a few hours with his family...post ritual of course.

It all reminded him of the few times he'd gone to church while at school, the few times he hadn't been able to sneak away. All they needed was some organ music.

As the chanting died down and Tyler, sounding exhausted, said that it was probably his best work ever, Tony let JARVIS take over the controls and climbed back to the other two and the girl.

"Huh...yeah. So still want us to get some ink too?" He even rolled up his sleeve.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"Don't be stupid. I didn't want you to get it in the first place."

But Alessa's crooked smile was back, but the outline of her projection was indistinct as Bruce helped clean her new tattoo and kissed the side of her hairless head.

"You can keep your hair, too. I pull it off better than you ever can." And there was a joke. Rare and modeled after Tony's sense of humor, but a joke.

Neither of them even acknowledged how strange it would be to have the projection talk as if she were as bald as the body in front of Tyler. Bruce looked at the artist briefly, giving him a small smile. "Thank you. I think you can go ahead and rest now."

[starkingenuity]

Tyler just nodded and went up to the cockpit, only half hearing Tony when he was told not to touch anything. JARVIS wouldn't let them crash but he didn't really need some poor young kid messing with the panel anyway. He had everything set up exactly the way he liked it, okay? Tony joined his little family around Alessa's body, the large back tattoo covered in gels and plastics to promote healing for an hour or so. They'd have to keep it clean.

"I kinda like it," Tony said, leaning on Bruce for just a moment before he let the quinjet's hull cradle him. He even drew up a knee, looking comfortable despite what they had done and what they were about to do. "But thanks. I don't have a good shaped head to go bald anyway. I'd have to shave off all of my facial hair too because I don't one to be one of those guys. You know, bald and a goatee? They're not fooling anyone. We all know they Bic it because otherwise they have a Picard helmet."

It didn't matter if no one understood him. Tony just liked to talk.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

No one understood him. It didn't really matter. Tony had a habit of going on about things no one else understood.

Bruce kept stroking Alessa's bare head. She was soft as a newborn. Looking down at her, she was hardly recognizable as the body he had to butcher in Silent Hill.

"How do you feel?"

"I'm fine." Alessa's outline was still indistinct with every touch. "When do I get Extremis?"

"We should give you a minute. It's not going to be very pleasant."

[starkingenuity]

Tony was going to have to override that 'in a minute' part. "Not on the plane," he said, being firm about it. "We're on the way to an island I own off the coast of France." What? He owned a lot of islands okay? "There's a lab there under the house and that's where we're going to do this. Just in case."

He knew what happened if Extremis caused a person to explode and exploding was the last thing he really needed to go on his resume. He'd blown himself up enough.

"We have to test the blast doors. The version of Extremis we're going to give you is pretty stable but that doesn't mean it's perfect. It doesn't work for everyone." Just look at what happened with Red Skull and Abomination.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

How many islands did Tony own?

Bruce nodded in agreement. Yes, even with the tattoo and all the work that went into stabilizing it, it was better to be safe than sorry where Extremis was concerned.

Alessa didn't stay awake long. Soon her image disappeared, and the body's breathing evened. Bruce still stroked her head absently.

"Tony, what do we do if it doesn't work?"

It was a sudden question. Looking down at her, her back bandaged and her skin red from touch, she looked so small and vulnerable. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and never let anything bad happen to her.

It was too bad he was about forty years too late.

[starkingenuity]

Tony was not a helpless man as a general rule of thumb, but he felt that was now as he watched Bruce with the girl. "It's going to work," he said, because they did not have a plan B here and there was no time to figure out what it might be. "The only difficulty is going to be how to maintain her until she gets use to it." And by maintain, Tony really meant 'contain.'

That meant it would be up to Bruce to help. Indestructible or not, however, being hurt meant that the Hulk would come out and if the Hulk did... With Alessa and the beast together, it was very likely that the island would be turned to ash.

That was why he was sending the tattooist back on the quinjet.

There was another on the island any way if there was a need for evacuation.

"We can always try the mirror." Though the girl had threatened that once invited in-- Well. It was just the island, right?

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"As a last resort. We can give her a little mirror, just in case."

Bruce gave Alessa a soft kiss on her head. The slightest peach fuzz brushed against his mouth. Her hair was already getting ready to grow again.

He let her go and sunk against the wall next to Tony, looking down at the girl and running through every worst case scenario he could think of in his head.

"How are you feeling?" With all the confusion and things to be done, Tony hadn't been given a lot of time to cope with his memory loss. Bruce wanted to make sure Tony was okay, now that they knew Alessa was.

[starkingenuity]

It was a good enough question, one that made Tony smirk slightly, introvertedly. How did he feel? "A little hungry," he said, but it wasn't to be funny, he was just being truthful. "Still pretty angry. There's not a lot else to feel but confusion and I don't really like feeling that way...so I'm not going to," he decided.

Hungry and angry, therefore, would just have to do for now.

What he wanted was a little reassurance but asking Bruce for that might have been laughable. Kiss me because I don't remember and I want to seemed like an odd request so Tony didn't make it, even if this next leg of their journey could leave him seriously injured.

Somehow, that was not as bad as losing the last few days...and losing what felt like, to him, to be something akin to home. Could a person embody that? When Bruce had kissed him, the world seemed right.

It was pretty amazing and terrifying and wonderful all at the same time.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce wasn't one to initiate affection at the best of times. Tony had always been the one to take his hand, to kiss him, to sneak his hands under his clothes. Bruce didn't know what to do with touches. He was too used to keeping people at arm's length.

And now, with Tony the way he was, he didn't want to push affection onto him. He was too scared of pushing him away.

He slid his hand against Tony's, loosely intertwining their fingers, giving Tony room to pull away if he wanted to. He wasn't sure enough of where they stood to give Tony all the touches he was used to receiving.

"I boxed the food, if you want to eat with me."

He was trying. He wanted to show Tony that he cared, that he wanted them to be okay, without overwhelming him or making either of them more vulnerable than they were comfortable with.

[starkingenuity]

The simple touch of a hand on his, fingers brushing the back of his hand, pushed a smile on Tony's lips. He curled his hand around Bruce's and let his thumb slide over his knuckles. A sigh followed, something like contentment, something like a purr, though humans lacked the vocal cords for that particular sound. "Oh good, I was afraid that I might waste away to nothing!"

Tony had eaten a lot of food in his life but nothing tasted half as good as the meal Bruce had compared, shared from fancy red Tuperware containers on the floor of the quinjet like a pair of high school kids plotting weekend adventures. Though some of his memory was missing, or replaced by his mind's attempt to make up for that missing memory, Tony knew that he'd never had a friend like Bruce in his life.

And, perhaps, never had a lover (boyfriend? Even a girlfriend) like him either.

Bruce might have an aversion to displaying affection openly, but Tony was more than receptive to whatever came his way.