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The Hulkbuster's fist made heavy contact with the Hulk's jaw and to Tony's relief the beast went out cold. Inside his suit Tony exhaled heavily, finally.
This was going to be bad, he looked around surveying the damage, it was too much to brush off or ignore this time. There was no alien invasion to justify some of the destruction, this was pure Hulk anarchy and no amount of enhanced witch magic excuses were going to make it better. The Hulkbuster retracted around him and he emerged in the Mark 43.
The Hulk was shrinking, green skin returning to the regular soft flesh tones of Bruce Banner. Tony opened a compartment on the side of the Hulkbuster's leg, stored inside was a blanket in case of moments like this. Retrieving it he hastened down to Bruce who had now fully reverted from the Hulk and was laying crumpled amongst the debris, unconscious and completely exposed.
With as much care as possible Tony shifted the concrete debris away from the tiny sleeping man and wrapped him in the blanket. Bruce was so pale and vulnerable laying among the destruction that if you didn't see it with your own eyes you would never believe this man was capable of causing such chaos. Tony stroked Bruce's face as gentle as possible and tucked a curl of hair behind Bruce's ear but was interrupted by soldiers starting to appear, guns trained on Bruce even as he lay unconscious. Before Tony could say anything that might damn them further or before Bruce could wake to see what he had done, Tony scooped Bruce up in his arms and took off.
As he flew back towards the Quinjet Tony knew the fallout from all this was going to be bad. He wouldn't be able to hide today's events from Bruce once he woke. Tony knew was that he would have to be there for Bruce and protect him from those who might try to call for action against the doctor and his monstrous counterpart. No one would take Bruce away from him no one, Tony thought, clutching Bruce closer to his chest. But most of all Tony worried what Bruce's response to all this would be. He would need to protect Bruce from himself most of all.
Back at the jet the other Avengers were slowly re-grouping after their defeat at the hands of Ultron and his two Enhanceds. Natasha was being supported by Clint as she limped towards the jet while Steve and Thor looked battered but otherwise fine. Tony's mask retracted as he landed and made his way towards them.
"What happened?" Steve asked as Tony approached. "Is Bruce okay?"
Without a word Tony walked past them all into the jet, placing Bruce down inside against the wall of the Quinjet, making sure he was wrapped tightly in the blanket. He made his way back outside as the others stared with quiet concern.
"Bruce is fine but the same can't be said for downtown Johannesburg." The Ironman suit retracted around him and she stepped out onto the hard ground. "We need to leave, now, before Ultron or the military find us.
"That bad?" Clint asked.
"Worse than that," Tony responded. "Everyone on the jet."
They piled in, Tony letting Clint take the controls as he sat at the back of the jet next to Bruce, waiting for him to wake up. Tony didn't have to wait long before Bruce began to stir, clearly confused about where he was as he pushed the blanket down and tried to kick himself away from the entrance to the jet.
"It's okay" Tony soothed as he placed his hand firmly on Bruce's shoulder to keep him still.
"The two Enhanceds-" Bruce begun looking around the jet for any sign of them.
"Gone," Tony assured him, rubbing Bruce's arm gently with his other hand. Bruce looked down at his lack of clothes and the blanket.
"I was the Hulk" he whispered before looking up at Tony. "Did I hurt anyone?" he instinctively blurted out before Tony could hush him.
Tony pulled him down so was cradled against his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around him. The others had clearly noticed Bruce was awake but were giving the two some privacy in this vulnerable time. They all knew crowding Bruce at a time like this wouldn't help matters.
"Tony," Bruce said warily, clearly on to the fact that something was wrong.
"The Enhanced, she manipulated you. You didn't know what you were doing." Tony said as stoically as possible. Bruce tried to pull away from him but Tony was ready and tightened his grip so that Bruce couldn't escape.
After realizing he wasn't going to free himself from Tony's grip Bruce gave up his struggle and buried himself in Tony's side.
"How many?" he asked clearly on the verge of tears.
"Enough for me to call in Veronica," Tony replied keeping his voice as level and quiet as possible. He leaned down and placed his cheek against Bruce's hair. He could feel Bruce's silent sobs against his chest and Tony pressed a small soft kiss on Bruce's head so that Bruce could feel it but the other Avengers would not notice.
"Do you want your headphones?" Tony asked, knowing that Bruce found music a useful distraction after post Hulk transformations. Bruce however shook his head slowly and just buried his face deeper against Tony.
****
Bruce tried to sleep as they flew towards wherever this safe house that Clint was taking them to but he found that sleep would not come. The others had all managed to curl up, rather uncomfortably, around the jet, leaving him to sit in the quiet and simple run through the events of the day over and over in silence. Tony had reluctantly shown him the news footage of their fight and seeing the destruction the Hulk had caused made Bruce feel worse than he had in such a long time. So many innocent people, homes and lives gone, because of him. Who had he been kidding entertaining the idea that he could be a member of the Avengers. He had always known it would end like this, he had warned everyone and now their unrelenting insistence that everything would be fine was finally proven wrong.
Once they were at this 'safe house' he would find a quiet moment when the others were distracted and leave, for good this time. He had thought Kolkata had been far away enough but apparently not, he would find somewhere further removed, where no one would ever find him. He looked over at Tony, who after much convincing had left Bruce's side and was napping on one of the small cots at the back of the jet. Yes, not even Tony Stark with all his high tech toys would be able to find him this time. Bruce knew what a heavy blow his leaving would have on Tony, the engineer had never expressed his feelings in words, Bruce doubted he was even capable of doing so, but he knew that the bond they had been forming was more than friendship. It was for the best though, Tony deserved someone who was capable of living the life he was accustomed to rather than this awkward scientist who was housing a monster capable of destroying everything they both loved.
The sun began rising through the windows and Bruce felt the jet begin to descend. Having made his decision to leave soon Bruce decided to savor what time he had left with Tony. He crawled over to Tony's side and whispered softly tracing one finger down Tony's cheek.
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty, we're nearly there."
"Sleeping princesses usually get woken up by kisses from handsome princes," Tony muttered.
"Okay, I'll get Steve over here," Bruce teased. Tony's hand appeared from under the blanket and seized Bruce's, pulling it to his lips and softly placing a kiss on Bruce's knuckles all while keeping firm eye contact. Bruce blushed and pulled his hand away before any of the others could see if they happened to be awake. After everything that had just happened between them he was grateful at Tony's attempts to cheer him up but his decision to leave was still sitting heavy in his mind and he knew that Tony sensed something.
Once they landed, the door to the jet opened to reveal what appeared to be a small farm. Remote by the looks of it, surrounded by woods and even a lake off in the distance. Yes, though Bruce as he emerged from the jet and took in the surroundings. It would be easy to disappear from here, wherever here was. Clint and Natasha lead the way both clearly familiar with their location but the exchanged glances between Tony, Steve and Thor told him that none of his other team mates had any idea where they were.
The next string of events were surprising, it was Clint's farm, with Clint's wife and children living here. Tony of course had been unbelieving at first, not being able to accept that Clint might be anything more than the man he had made them think he was. As Clint hugged his children Bruce did his best to keep himself together, determined not to let his discomfort visibly show in front of Clint's family. He felt out of place here, in this delicate domestic household. The sooner he could get away from all this the better.
"Hey," Tony whispered turning to him and shielding him from view of the others, "you okay?"
Bruce shook his head, staring intently at the floor, trying to focus on anything but letting his mind run wild into a sea of self doubt.
"Excuse me, Laura, was it?" Tony turned, addressing Clint's wife. "We've had a rough day, any chance of a shower?"
"Oh, of course. You can use the one upstairs. Follow me," she said with a smile and headed out of the room. Tony placed his hand firmly but reassuringly on Bruce's back and urged him forward. She led them upstairs and showed them into a spare bedroom, gesturing through to another door.
"The bathroom's in there, fresh towels are in the cabinet." She smiled at them again and left, closing the door behind her.
Bruce sat on the edge of the bed, wrapping his hands together as he always did when he was worried. Tony sank down on the mattress next to him and Bruce wasted no time leaning in against his chest, signalling that it was okay for Tony to wrap his arms around him, which Tony did. Tony held him closely for several minutes.
"Lay down," Tony commanded, releasing Bruce and kicking his shoes off so he could climb over to the other side of the bed. Bruce hesitated but Tony's arms were open, wide and inviting. Bruce gave in and moved into them, it might be the last opportunity he got to be close to Tony anyway, he should enjoy it while he can.
They lay in silence for a while, Bruce savoring every moment of Tony being pressed up against him. It was like being back at Stark tower, where long nights in the lab had seen them exhausted and sleeping on the couch together, too tired to drag themselves back to their rooms. Or the several times where Tony had sleepless nights or Bruce had awoken from nightmares of the Hulk so bad that they found themselves in each other's company and beds, just being there for each other.
"I know you're thinking of leaving." Tony stated, breaking the silence.
"The world just saw the Hulk, the real Hulk for the first time," Bruce mumbled. "You know I have to leave."
"No you don't. And here's the thing, even if you tried to, you know I'm not going to let you."
"What I did today, no one will ever forgive me, especially myself-"
"I agree," Tony cut in, "but if you run away from this, from them. You'll prove them all right. That you are a monster that needs to hide away from the world." Bruce frowned at how blunt Tony was being about this but was glad he wasn't trying to sugar coat today's events.
"And Ultron?" Tony continued. "You're just happy to disappear and let him win?" He shifted so that they were looking at each other as he continued to speak.
"We need you on this, we- I , can't beat him without you. The world may not need the Hulk, but it sure as hell needs Banner. And only with him can we take Ultron down and save this world from a fate worse than anything the Hulk could inflict. Then afterwards, I promise you, all of this will have just been a bad dream."
Bruce blushed at hearing this. Everyone always talked about the Hulk as being the most useful of the two of them but hearing Tony state that it was him and not the Hulk that he needed was enough to make Bruce begin to tear up again.
"And then what?" Bruce asked sitting up. "Say we do find a way to defeat Ultron. Then what? We just go back to your tower and pretend that everything is fine and that whatever, this, " he gestured between the two of them, "whatever it is, is normal? You know I'll never be capable of anything approaching normal." Bruce made to get up from the bed but Tony pressed him down, rolling on top of Bruce to straddle him so he couldn't escape.
"I don't want normal." Tony stated staring down fiercely into Bruce's eyes and running his fingers gently down his face. "I want brilliant, genius, smartest fucking man in the world, Banner, and every enormous rage monster lurking inside of him. Both of them are mine and I'm not letting anything take them away from me, especially that over thinking brain of yours."
Then before Bruce could respond Tony bent down and kissed him hard and possessive in a way he had never before. Bruce flushed red at this sudden unexpected passion but let himself give into it, even placing one hand on Tony's side to pull him closer. Tony took this as a sign and pushed himself down harder against Bruce before breaking away from him and climbing off the bed.
"Now go have a shower," Tony ordered as he scooped up his shoes and headed for the door. "I'm going outside to talk to Cap," he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway before calling back over his shoulder. "And if I catch you trying to climb out that bathroom window in an escape attempt, there will be no science for a month young man!"
Bruce watched him go and smiled as he rested his head back on the pillow. He supposed he could stay. For now.