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The city was breath-taking, even as it smoldered and sparked and block after block was slowly draped in the creeping, smokey-black night.
It would be days, if not a week or more, before power was fully restored. Tony had kicked in an arc reactor or two, and hooked the Tower's power to the grid, backing up essential buildings and taking some load off their generators, but it was only enough to create small islands of light in the encroaching darkness.
"I get why you like it up here," Bruce said, leaning against the railing of the deck that arced out from the penthouse of Stark Tower. It was the most graceful feature on the otherwise impressive and, yet, honestly ugly building.
"Do you?" Tony was leaning next to him, a glass of scotch in his hand and he frowned down at the shadowed streets. "Nothing like reveling in power and wealth, forcing all those below to gaze up at you. Am I right?"
Bruce ignored that and leaned a little further over the edge of the railing. It's not like the fall would kill him. "It's like flying, standing out here."
"Or that. Though, you know, I do fly, so it's mostly the reveling."
With a wry twist to his lips, Bruce glanced over at Tony who responded by arrogantly and casually swirling the amber liquid in his glass.
No doubt sensing that somebody had caught a glance of the man underneath the armor, Tony drained his glass and pushed off the railing, heading back inside. Bruce looked out over the city for another moment before following.
"So ..." Bruce said as he walked back into the penthouse. He still wasn't sure what he was doing there. Except ... except it was kind of nice to stop for a little while. And for once nobody seemed to be chasing him. Yet. Still Tony Stark's penthouse ... life was always a surprise. Bruce wasn't quite sure what to do with himself here. People didn't really invite him into their homes. Especially after they knew about the Other Guy.
Tony was at the wet-bar, making himself another drink. "So, how's the lab? Good? Need anything? Make a list for Jarvis. We'll get it."
"No, no, the lab's ..." Bruce stopped and licked his lips and looked around the destruction of the penthouse. Destruction that Tony seemed to ignore with surprising ease. "The lab's great, but, uh..."
"It could be bigger? Go on, you can say it. You drive a hard bargain, Banner, but we've got the contractors coming. Again. We'll knock out a wall. It'll be fun."
"The lab is huge, Tony," Bruce assured him quietly. "Really, it's amazing. I don't need anything. Besides, you'd have to move Doctor Foster, right?"
Tony took a sip of his drink and eyed him for a long moment before shrugging and wandering over to the couch. "It's not like we don't have room."
"And she hasn't accepted yet," Bruce noted.
"Please, she'll accept. Darcy will talk her into it."
"I ... uh." He pulled his glasses off and fiddled with them while he tried to decide how to open up this particular topic with Tony. "Can I ... can I talk to you for a minute?"
Tony frowned and cocked his head. "Aren't we talking now?"
"Uh, yeah, I mean, but ..."
"Bruce, buddy, pal, comrade in arms, sit the fuck down, you're making me twitch."
Bruce laughed, a little rueful and a little resigned, and sat gingerly in an armchair. "Sure. Look, about Darcy--"
"She's a stunner right? But, I've got to put my foot down here. You're old enough to be, well, me." Tony leaned back with a sigh and rubbed at his face. "I am completely aware of how hypocritical that statement is, and yet, it stands."
"No, that's not it. I mean, yes, she's lovely, but no. Look, she's your daughter."
Tony smirked. "I know. I was there."
Bruce shook his head but couldn't stop the smile. Tony was an aggravating jackass, but damn it if Bruce didn't like him. He'd had faith -- faith in him, faith in the Other Guy. It was weird, Bruce didn't trust it would last, didn't trust the Other Guy, but, it wasn't unpleasant, either. Wildly unexpected, but, somehow he suspected that was just Tony Stark.
"How do you even have a daughter?" He exclaimed, couldn't stop himself from it really. And he laughed again when he said it. He didn't remember the last time he'd laughed so much. Maybe with Betty when ... well. Anyway.
"I thought you were a doctor?"
"That's not what I meant."
Smirking a little bit more, Tony took another sip of his drink and watched Bruce over the rim.
"She's your daughter, and I'm dangerous to be around."
"Oh for fuck's sake." Tony scowled at him then jumped up off the couch and stalked back over to the bar.
"How can you let her be--"
"She's my daughter," Tony bit out.
"That's my point."
"No, no. She's my daughter. She's not an idiot."
Bruce let out a long breath and sat back in his chair. "I have my doubts about you."
"Sanity, sure; idiocy ... well, situational, according to Pepper. But this? No. I'm not an idiot. And, neither is Darcy. She can handle herself."
"Against the Other Guy?"
Tony made a sound low in his throat, a frustrated growl and he set his glass down on the marble bar with enough force that Bruce was surprised it didn't crack. "Jarvis. Get Pepper up here. Immediately. Emergency." He seemed to think better of that order after a moment. "Non-life-threatening emergency," he corrected.
"Of course, sir," Jarvis replied in a dry tone that Bruce wasn't entirely certain was programmed. Jarvis was clever to a disturbing degree.
"Tony--"
"Nope, shut up." Tony cut him off with a wave of his hand. "If you won't listen to me, you'll listen to Pepper. Everybody listens to Pepper."
"Including you?"
"If I want sex ever again, yes," Tony said in a very serious, very dire tone.
Any number of things had gone through Bruce's head when he'd heard Tony had a girlfriend -- and he had to admit none of them were very kind. He was never one to keep up on celebrity gossip, and all he knew about Tony was that he was brilliant and spent most of his life tom-catting around.
So, what sort of woman would actually date Tony? Bruce's first thought was gold-digging, plastic bimbo. Vapid, was the word that actually sprang to mind. Or maybe it was vacuous. But, Tony needed to be challenged, or he'd get bored. So the plastic bimbo was probably fun when he was going through the flavors of the week, but not somebody he'd call girlfriend.
Bruce's next thought was brittle. She'd be grasping, ambitious, brilliant, cold and brittle. She'd know how to manipulate Tony and flatter his ego. That assessment seemed to be confirmed when he learned she'd made the quantum leap from his Personal Assistant to the CEO of his company.
So, when Bruce met Pepper Potts, he was immediately and deeply embarrassed and maybe even a little ashamed. In fact, he was having a hard time looking her in the eye or, you know, speaking to her.
She wasn't brittle, and she wasn't grasping, she was no fake, plastic bimbo, and while she certainly knew how to handle Tony, Bruce hadn't heard one word of calculating flattery drop from her lips. She was undoubtedly brilliant, and absolutely beautiful, but when they'd met her in the penthouse after the worst Shwarma date ever, she'd cried a little and held Tony fiercely and it was obvious her affection was real.
They continued to defy his expectations when Tony introduced him, and Pepper, instead of recoiling in horror and demanding he leave her home as she should have -- and as anyone in their right mind, as far as Bruce was concerned, would -- stepped over and gave him a brief but warm hug. It was the first hug he'd had in ... well. Anyway.
And his second hug in forever, came shortly after, when Darcy threw herself on him. That memory made him tense-up -- not a lot, but he felt it around the tops of his shoulders, up the side of his neck; a hovering nervous tension. She'd surprised him, and the Other Guy really didn't like surprises. Though, he could swear he felt the Other Guy huff in irritated approval, as though it was no less than his due, when she said 'thank you'.
Bruce shook himself out of his thoughts as Pepper came into the room.
"Tony, what? I was on the phone with the mayor. And unless you want him to send you a bill for--"
"He can wait," Tony cut her off, then pointed accusingly at the other man. "Bruce is trying to leave."
Bruce sighed. "I'm not trying."
"I need you to convince him that my daughter is not an idiot."
Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose and took several even breaths. It was a technique Bruce knew only too well. When she'd composed herself she looked over at Bruce, smiled, and crossed the room to sit on the couch.
"It's lovely of you to be concerned about Darcy," she said.
Bruce didn't think there was anything remotely lovely about him or his worry that he was going to lose control and brutally murder somebody. He set his jaw, frustrated and stubborn. What was it about these people that they didn't get how dangerous the Other Guy was?
Tony snorted, Pepper shot him a warning glance and turned back to Bruce. "Bruce, if you want to leave, of course we won't try and stop you."
He smiled grimly. "I think you'd find it pretty hard to stop me."
She only raised an eyebrow and evaluated him in silence for several heartbeats. "I meant a more verbal sort of persuasion. Or bribery, since I think we can consider the lab a material appeal."
Bruce laughed a little and looked away. "Fair enough."
"Darcy knows where the safe rooms are."
"Adamantium reinforced," Tony called. He was still hovering around the wet bar, though Bruce noticed he'd switched to soda water over scotch. "And, I'm reinforcing that area in the sub-basement. The Hulk's personal chill-out tent."
Pepper rolled her eyes. "It's not that we're taking your concerns lightly, it's ..." she paused and watched him for another second. "Do you have control?"
Bruce blinked and looked up from watching his fingers twisting over and around each other again and again. "Most of the time."
"Okay."
"But ... it just takes a second. One little thing I can't anticipate."
"I understand."
He choked out a bleak, grim laugh and shook his head, looking back down at his hands. "I don't think you do."
Tony, fed up with not being the center of attention, joined Pepper on the couch. "You ... he took orders from Rogers, caught me when I fell, followed Loki in here, and look! Still structurally sound. And really, I love that." Tony waved a hand at the Loki crater in the floor. "He was focused."
Bruce nearly groaned. "Tony."
"You let him out, he had a purpose, he confined his destruction to the bad guys," Tony argued, his voice starting heat. Bruce ducked his head and felt the old coiling tension that came from raised voices and overt confrontation.
Pepper put a hand on Tony's arm, and he stilled immediately. Giving her a long suffering look, he slumped back on the couch almost petulantly.
Running a hand over his face, Bruce felt his own shoulders slump. "She's just ... she's your daughter. I don't understand. And, God, how old is she? I don't think I even remember being that young."
"She'll be ..." Pepper paused and her eyes widened. "She's going to be 23 in November. Well, now I feel old."
Tony eyed her skeptically. "No way. 16, 17 max."
"Oh, no." Pepper shook her head firmly and narrowed her eyes at him. "No, no, I survived the teen years, I'm not going back just because you're in denial."
Tony grumbled under his breath, and Bruce surprised himself by laughing.
"She was a handful?" He asked.
"No, she was a good kid," Pepper told him. "Well, there were moments, but, that's true of any teenager I think."
"She never got caught," Tony piped up, grinning proudly.
Pepper frowned and shot him a look brimming with dark suspicion. "Caught doing what?"
"Anything," was Tony's bland reply.
With a sigh, Pepper briefly covered her eyes with one hand. "Bruce, I'd like you to imagine something."
He stared at her uncertainly. "Okay?"
"Tony Stark, his teenaged daughter, a workshop full of dangerous and destructive items, three robots, one AI, and nearly unlimited funds," Pepper listed off, her eyes still closed.
Bruce thought about it. He hadn't known Tony long, but he was starting to get a feel for him. "Oh," he said after a moment, but then things truly clicked together in his head and he couldn't help but laugh again. "Oh."
Pepper laughed with him while Tony scowled. "May I point out, Ms. Potts, that we raised a child to adulthood and she's more or less intact? Like not seriously emotionally scarred or, you know, in desperate need of therapy."
Pepper gave him a long look, something in her face softening, and she brushed back the hair from his forehead. "We, huh?"
Tony's smile was affectionate and maybe even slightly bashful, which was honestly an expression Bruce didn't think the man would even have a passing knowledge of. "Couldn't have done it without you."
"I think Rebecca and Paul played a part, too," she responded after a moment, dryly amused, but her fingers were still stroking through his hair.
Tony raised his chin. "Whatever. I was there, too."
"Yes, you were." Pepper leaned against him and brushed his cheek with a kiss. "Good job, dad."
Bruce looked away. He wasn't jealous. He didn't think he was, but the easy, casual intimacy between the couple made him shift uncomfortably and set off a low acid burn somewhere in the middle of his chest. Regret, maybe. Probably. He was familiar enough with that.
"Thank you." Tony nodded. "We raised a child to adulthood. She's an adult. Holy shit," he said in a wondering tone and shook his head.
"And she returned to the nest," Bruce pointed out.
Pepper spoke up before Tony could start to scowl again. "She's talking about getting an apartment, maybe with Jane."
Tony sat up straight. "What? No. Why? No, no way. Where?"
"I don't know, Tony, she's only been here a couple of days. With everything going on, I really don't think they've started looking yet."
"What about security?" Tony looked alarmed and Bruce rolled his eyes. This was what had the man worried, not the giant green menace in their midst. Of course.
"There are plenty of secure buildings in the city," Pepper pointed out with infinite patience. Bruce wondered where she got it from, and if she could give him some pointers. Meditation and circular breathing could only get him so far.
"Secure my ass. What's some doorman going to stop?" Tony scoffed, his mouth twisting with both distaste and disdain.
"Plenty of things."
"Maybe Happy--"
"No," Pepper cut him off sharply. "You are not making Happy move out here just to be her doorman."
"It's safer here," Tony argued while blithely ignoring Bruce's pointed cough. "She's got her own suite. Hell, I'll even set Foster up."
Pepper rolled her eyes. "I think this is something you really need to talk to Darcy about."
"Jarvis! Where is Darcy?"
"Darcy is in the break room next to Doctor Foster's lab."
Tony bounced off the couch and spun to face Bruce. "Don't leave."
"Well--"
"No. Look, it'll be awesome," Tony said in a rush. "We'll build a rainbow bridge, get a handle on the Other Guy, revolutionize ... everything. Stay."
"I'm not a golden retriever," Bruce grumbled half-heartedly. "Are you inviting the others, too?"
Tony looked at him, an expression of true horror crossing over his face. "God, no. Jesus. What a--" He actually shuddered. He caught Bruce's smirk and shed the horror for an expression that was carefully and arrogantly blank. "Whatever. Pepper, make him stay."
And with that, Tony turned on his heel and strode out.
"I won't make you stay," Pepper assured Bruce once Tony was out of earshot. "But, I think we'd all like it if you did."
"I don't know."
Pepper nodded and said, softly, "Just consider it. I think you don't realize this, but we all do know how to make a security assessment. And Darcy has always been security conscious -- she's had to be."
She gazed off over his head to the plastic-draped windows beyond. "She's probably been more paranoid about it than she needed to be -- no twelve-year old should have been that worried about going out for tacos because somebody might recognize her dad. That was our job, not hers."
Pepper shook her head and turned her smile back on Bruce. It was a little sad and a little wistful, and he ducked his head again. "I love her, and if you think I'd knowingly let her be in a hazardous situation, you're very much mistaken. And if you think Tony would ..." She sighed and stood. "I don't think you're giving us enough credit."
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, Bruce, don't be sorry." Pepper walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He made a supreme effort to not flinch away from the touch. "I was, honestly, hoping you'd stick around and be a good influence on Tony."
Bruce's lips twitched and he looked up at her, squinting a little. "But what if he's a bad influence on me?"
She raised one perfect eyebrow and smiled, nearly playful. "Oh, well, that's a given. I have my fingers crossed for some sort of balance."
Bruce stared at her, not quite sure he believed she was real. "I don't know you that well, so no offense, but I hope you understand just how terrible this idea is."
"Give it a chance," she told him. "On the scale of Tony Stark bad ideas, this doesn't even register."
"You say that now..." he trailed off with a shake of his head.
"Bruce, I don't know you that well, either, but, is it really too much to let yourself rest? Just for a little while?"
He dropped his head and pushed himself back in the chair, making her drop her hand from his shoulder. She stood back and watched him.
"I know about mistakes, Bruce, and the consequences. I know about betrayal, and I know about loss." She sat down on the edge of the coffee table, legs crossed demurely, and leaned towards him. "Stay, Bruce. For now. Tony's never really had somebody who could keep up with him intellectually. He's thrilled you're here. I'm thrilled you're here. It's good for him to have friends other than Rhodey and robots. And it will be nice for me to have somebody who can sympathize with the rigors of dealing with Tony all day." She nudged his knee, and he smiled reluctantly back.
"And Darcy?"
"I'm sure she's thrilled in her own way."
"That's not what I meant."
Pepper nodded and smiled a touch ruefully. "I know. She'll be fine. You'll find her marginally less provoking than Tony. Though, she is a hugger, so you'll have to get used to that."
"I noticed." Bruce let out a long breath and looked back up at Pepper again. "Okay. For now."
"Wonderful." She patted his knee and stood up, smoothing her skirt as she went. "Now, I have to get back to the Mayor, before he tries to send us the bill for Manhattan."
"Ouch."
She bared her teeth in a ruthless grin the Other Guy would have been proud of. "Not going to happen."
When she left, Bruce sat alone, the stillness of the Penthouse broken only by the wind ripping at the plastic over the window frames.
Oh, God, this was going to be such a bad, bad idea. But, until that became clear to everybody else -- and he felt guilty about even considering waiting until then -- he did still have a beautiful new lab, and a quiet room, and nobody was shooting at him or chasing him today, and he did like Tony, and he did like Pepper, and they seemed to actually, honestly like him for reasons beyond his comprehension. It was weird, but maybe for a little while it was alright.