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Convincing Bruce to stay stateside and work in Stark Tower after the Chitauri invasion hadn’t been easy, but in Tony’s eyes the payoff was well worth it. And, when Tony himself was eventually able to stay in New York and work with him in person? Oh, that payoff made a lot of things worthwhile.
It wasn’t just the enjoyment of being able to talk research with someone whose intellect matched his own- yeah, that was pretty great, but Tony had already known Bruce would be smart. But he’d also, for some reason, expected Bruce to be sensible. He just had that sort of demeanor- quiet, subdued, methodical. Even Pepper had made a few comments about how Bruce might “help keep Tony in check”.
In retrospect, a guy who had nuked himself into a real life “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. H-oly shit” and spent the last several years building makeshift laboratories out of scraps while fleeing a crazed military general probably wasn’t the best example of in check.
Which, of course, was excellent. Every wildcard idea that Tony threw at him, Bruce could take it and come back with one of his own- sometimes, even, to an alarming extent. Tony had even started intentionally trying to get a rise out of him, expecting that it wouldn’t take long for Bruce to warn him to knock it off. After all, most people were only willing to put up with Tony’s shit for so long, and Bruce had more motivation than most to keep himself calm. But, despite Tony’s best efforts, Bruce still seemed endlessly fascinated by the idea that someone was trying to piss him off. Sometimes he’d even slyly goad him on, watching in amusement as Tony inevitably got carried away with his own game and, carried away with jester’s hubris, would wind up making an ass of himself. A bit of good fun, and a bit of good payback.
Things were going so well, that Tony didn’t even foresee a bump in the road.
Until, of course, they hit it.
“You want me to build what?”
Tony was looking at Bruce incredulously. He’d brought it up so casually that Tony could’ve thought it was an offbeat joke- Bruce’s sense of humor did skew a bit dark. But the genuine surprise on Bruce’s face at Tony’s response hinted otherwise.
“It’s a reasonable precaution.” Bruce’s tone was still disarmingly steady. “Honestly, I figured SHIELD would’ve asked you already.”
Tony just shrugged, saying nothing. Bruce looked at him in mild disbelief. “You told them no, didn’t you? They already asked, and you told them no.” It was a statement, not a question.
“And you’re surprised? All the shady shit SHIELD’s done, and you really expect me to not just build them a new weapon- a business I’m not even in anymore- but build one specifically designed to kick the ass of one of the few people who willingly puts up with me? You wound me, Bruce. I shouldn’t put up with that kind of insult.”
Bruce gave him a deadpan expression, clearly not in the mood for Tony’s particular...flair. “I’m not going to let you drop this, you know. It’s important.”
“Clearly not that important. You’ve been handling things just fine. Better than me, actually, so which one of us is a threat to national security again?”
“Tony…” A warning tone crept into Bruce’s voice, the kind he used when he wanted to scare the crap out of inexperienced SHIELD operatives, or when he wanted to show Tony that he was very mildly annoyed. “I need you to take this seriously.”
“Oh, I’m the one not taking it seriously?” Tony spun around in his desk chair to look Bruce in the eye. “I think you aren’t taking this seriously. Say it like it is. Say it like it is. You want me to build something that can kill you.”
Bruce groaned and rubbed his forehead. “Incapacitate the Hulk, Tony, it’s not the same thing.”
“It could be. If we’re not careful.”
“Then we’ll be careful?” Bruce sighed. “Look, I’m not exactly thrilled about this either. But it has to happen. I...I just need to know that there’s a backup plan, if worst comes to worst. Because I know what could happen if the “other guy” got out, and it’s not..it’s not…you wouldn’t...” He stopped and shook his head. “I can’t let that happen.” He paused again and glanced down at his hands, which he’d begun wringing together again in their trademark nervous pattern. “And besides- I’m technically still wanted for theft of military secrets. I’m sure you’ll understand why I don’t want to give anyone a reason to bring those charges back up.”
“Oh, come on. General Ross was just trying to puff himself up.” Tony said, dismissively. “And he couldn’t even pick a decent lie. Theft? Really? Don’t know how the hell he came up with that one.”
“Well, technically…”
Tony just stared at Bruce for a second. “You know, I thought I was finally starting to get your sense of humor. But this is a new one. No way do you actually…”
“The rest of the serum we were testing was destroyed in the accident, along with most of the data.” Bruce said with a shrug. “Even with what was salvaged, the research and testing couldn’t be fully replicated. So, all that’s left of the project they funded is, well…what I have.”
"What, so they’re saying you stole...yourself? A person can’t steal their own body, that’s just...I mean, barring the massive ethical problems- of which there are many- how the hell would they even enforce it? Just keep you in their custody for the rest of…”
He stopped short at the sad smile on Bruce’s face. “Oh. Right.”
Bruce nodded. “So– any ideas?”
“Only because you asked nicely.” Tony muttered, as he turned back towards his computer and began opening some files. “I did draft up some ideas, when SHIELD first brought it up. In case I needed something to shut them up. But they’re all terrible. The ideas, I mean. And SHIELD too, now that I’ve brought that up, but–”
“Would any of them work? Your ideas, I mean.”
“Why else would I call them terrible?”
Bruce sat down next to him and put on his reading glasses. “Let’s see what you have, then.”
Tony scowled, but pulled up the first set of schematics. “Here. It’s an old design, from when I still made...well, this sort of thing. Some hotshot brass wanted something ‘unconventional’ and I, uh, didn’t have much in the way of standards back then. ” He frowned at the diagram. “Uses pulses of high intensity sound waves. It’s not exactly pretty, but for the big guy…” His frown deepened. “It’d hit him, at least.”
“Hmm.” Bruce seemed to be only half-listening, studying the diagrams intently. There was something about his fixed stare that made Tony uneasy, though he couldn’t place why.
Bruce didn’t say anything else, so Tony began talking just to fill the unsettling silence. “They never told me who or what it was for. Too top-secret, and I guess they didn’t think I was trustworthy enough. Which I probably wasn’t. But maybe it never got used, you know, there was only one prototype, so hopefully…” He trailed off. Bruce was still looking at the screen “You’ve completely stopped listening, haven’t you?”
Bruce finally pulled his eyes away from the screen and took off his glasses, suddenly very occupied with cleaning them. “It just...looks familiar, that’s all.”
“...Oh, god.” It took a moment for what Bruce had said to truly hit, and when it did...well, Tony deeply wished it hadn’t. He looked at the screen, then at Bruce, then back at the screen. “Did you just say what I think you said? Please tell me you didn’t say what I think you said.”
Bruce was still holding his glasses in both hands, tracing the frame with his thumb. “I’ve definitely seen it before, yeah”
“Shit.” Tony looked away from the screen as well, not able to face it anymore. He’d already sort of known, in the back of his mind, that some of his old designs had probably been used against the Hulk. Former military contractor, former military fugitive- it didn’t take a genius to figure out, after all. But, unfortunately, Tony was a genius. Which meant that he also knew, very vividly, what would happen when a metaphorical unstoppable force met a big, green, unmovable object.
“...Shit.” he muttered again.
“If it helps?” Bruce said cautiously. “At least we know it’s...effective. With a few tweaks, to work out some of the weaknesses, it could be just what we’re looking for.”
For several seconds, Tony was left utterly dumbfounded. “No way. You’re not seriously…” He shook his head. “Even after...after whatever must have happened, whatever they did to you, you’re still saying we should take this and work out the weaknesses?”
Bruce’s eyes kept straying to the schematics onscreen. Tony wished he’d stop. “It only makes sense. Takes out some of the guesswork, since it’s already been...field tested, in a way. And using sonic energy is a good approach- confusion, disorientation, it’ll definitely slow him down.”
“And I’m guessing you know that from experience.” Tony muttered, shaking his head. “Field tested, what the fuck, Bruce, how can you say that?”
“And what do you want me to say? Look, all of this is...horrible, maybe, yes. But it’s the best we’ve got to work with.”
Bruce’s expression wasn’t the least bit accusatory, but Tony still felt his skin crawl as if he was watching his soul being weighed on the scales of judgement day. He turned back to the computer screen and began closing the files he’d opened. “We’re still not using it. Or any of this. It’s all based on old designs, reworks of stuff I dug from storage.” He spun back around in his chair, facing Bruce, arms crossed. “I won’t take that chance. We’ll find something new, something humane, or we’re scrapping the project altogether.”
“And what will that do? Starting from scratch only drags all of this out, more planning, more testing. It won’t change what’s already happened.”
“I don’t care.” Tony said stubbornly. “I won’t do it. Not again.”
“Tony, this isn’t about you.”
“You know what? I agree. It’s not about me. It’s about you. It’s about you, and whatever miserable night I’m sure you had waking up after they beat the crap out of you with that thing, and all the other bullshit that happened because the military just couldn’t wrap their collective minds around the idea that the Hulk’s not half as dangerous if you don’t intentionally provoke him. I’ll help you build something, if you say you need an extra backup plan, I’ll do that for you, but we’re not going to do it like that. You’re going to be involved in it from the start, so you can tell me from the start what’s right and what’s wrong. It’ll still be terrible, I’m still not going to like it, but at least you’ll have a say.”
Bruce opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. Looked down at his hands. Bit his lip.
“...Thank you.” he said quietly.
Then he got up and left the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony didn’t see Bruce for the rest of the day. He did see him the next morning, briefly, but there was no more mention of what had happened. Nor was there the next day, or the next after that. He’d almost have thought the matter had been dropped, except that Bruce was still kinda-sorta-most-definitely avoiding him. Tony even tried to talk to him a few times– not about what had happened, but just their usual sort of banter– and Bruce barely even gave him a glance.
Then, one morning, completely out of the blue, Bruce strode into Tony’s workshop and set a folder down on his desk.
“I’ve got an idea.” he said. “For that project we were talking about.”
Tony glanced up at him. “What, not even a good morning? We just gonna pretend you haven’t been ignoring me for a week?”
Bruce shifted uncomfortably. “Honestly? Yeah. I was hoping we weren’t going to have to talk about that.”
“Alright. We can drop it.”
“I…wait, seriously?” Bruce looked relieved, but confused. “You’re really going to let it slide. Just like that.”
“Yes. Really.” Tony shrugged, turning his chair around to face Bruce properly. “For this? Yeah. I’ll let you drop it.”
“…Alright.” Bruce seemed unsettled by Tony’s sudden generosity. “Well…uh, as I was saying, I came up with an idea.”
“Am I going to hate it?”
“Probably, yeah. But I don’t.”
“Then let’s hear it.”
“I think we should build a suit.” He didn’t give Tony time to respond before continuing. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? You’ve already got the research, the base designs...” his eyes swept Tony’s workshop, perpetually littered with pieces and prototypes. “...You’ve got the experience. But it’s not something the ‘other guy’ would have already had a run-in with. Not a, uh, a bad run-in at least.” He shifted awkwardly. “I think you had a point when you said that the Hulk might not be as dangerous if he’s not being provoked. You, in a suit– I don’t think he’d see that as a threat.”
Tony considered this. It was obvious. And still felt kind of fucked up. But the idea was interesting enough to light a spark of inspiration. “It’d have to be one hell of a suit,” he mused.
“You do like a challenge?” Bruce offered, tentatively.
“You’re not wrong on that.” Tony picked up the folder Bruce had set down and thumbed through it idly. Lots of sketches, in Bruce’s own hand. “You put a lot of thought into this.”
“Like you said. You wanted this to be my idea.” He pulled up a chair and sat down next to Tony, taking out a few of the sketches. “It won’t be as– powerful as it probably could be. SHIELD might not like that. But that means it also won’t be as—” He trailed off.
“Painful?”
“That’s one way of putting it, yeah.”
“Hmm.” Tony was still looking over the sketches. He still didn’t really like the idea. But Bruce did. And, apparently, SHIELD wouldn’t. That was always a bonus. “Alright. You’ve sold me on it. Let's get started.”