Chapter Text
# Project Prometheus
## Chapter One: Authorization Denied
Bruce Banner's POV
There were some silences that never became familiar.
Bruce had spent his entire life surrounded by noise—machines humming in the background, keyboards clicking beneath restless fingers, conversations bouncing from one brilliant mind to another. Even when the Avengers Compound was quiet, there had always been something.
Tony singing terribly to music only he could hear.
FRIDAY reminding him he'd forgotten to eat.
The distant clang of metal from one of Tony's workshops.
Now there was nothing.
The silence lingered in every hallway of the compound, settling into the empty spaces Tony Stark had left behind. Six months had passed since the Battle of Earth, yet every room still felt like it was waiting for its owner to walk back through the door with a sarcastic remark and an impossible idea.
Bruce wasn't sure if that feeling would ever disappear.
He stepped into the main laboratory just before sunrise, a steaming cup of coffee balanced carefully in one hand.
"Morning, Tony."
The words slipped out automatically.
Bruce froze halfway across the room.
His eyes drifted toward the workbench in the far corner.
It was empty.
"...Right."
He let out a quiet breath, rubbing a tired hand across his face before setting the coffee beside the central workstation.
Old habits died hard.
Especially when they belonged to someone you weren't ready to lose.
The laboratory hadn't changed much since Tony's death.
Pepper had refused to move anything.
Every screwdriver remained exactly where Tony had left it. Half-finished projects still occupied worktables, surrounded by scattered notes written in Tony's unmistakable handwriting. A robotic arm sat frozen in the middle of assembling something no one had managed to identify.
It almost felt disrespectful to touch anything.
Like disturbing a museum.
Bruce lowered himself into Tony's chair, wincing slightly as it rolled backward beneath his weight.
"Let's see what you've gotten yourself into this time."
The holographic display bloomed to life above the workstation, illuminating the dim room in soft shades of blue.
Immediately, lines of encrypted code raced across the screen.
Bruce had been staring at that same code for three weeks.
Three weeks of failed passwords.
Three weeks of bypass attempts.
Three weeks of convincing himself that this command would finally be the one that worked.
He typed another sequence.
The program paused.
For one hopeful second, Bruce's heartbeat quickened.
Then the screen flashed crimson.
> ACCESS DENIED
He sighed.
"I liked you better when you just made killer robots."
The lab doors slid open behind him.
"Talking to yourself?"
Bruce smiled despite himself.
"I've been told it's healthier than talking to ghosts."
Sam Wilson walked into the room carrying a cardboard drink tray with two coffees balanced inside. He wore a light jacket over a gray shirt, looking far more awake than anyone should at six in the morning.
"I figured you'd forget breakfast again."
Bruce accepted the coffee gratefully.
"You keep this up and I'm naming you Favorite Avenger."
Sam chuckled.
"Pretty sure that's a title Clint already gave himself."
Bruce took a long sip before motioning toward the floating display.
"Still nothing."
Sam stepped closer, studying the screen.
At its center floated only three words.
> PROJECT PROMETHEUS
Beneath it rested another line.
> AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
And below that—
> ACCESS DENIED
"You've seriously been staring at that thing since yesterday?"
Bruce didn't answer.
Sam raised an eyebrow.
"...Bruce."
"Yesterday morning."
"Bruce."
"I know."
"You slept?"
Bruce looked offended.
"I blinked."
Sam laughed.
"That isn't the same thing."
"It counts."
"No. It doesn't."
For the first time that morning, Bruce found himself smiling.
Tony would've made that exact argument.
The realization hit both of them at the same time.
Neither spoke for a few moments.
The silence returned.
Heavier than before.
Project Prometheus hadn't existed a month ago.
At least, as far as anyone knew.
Then one morning, Stark Industries' global network detected an encrypted system buried beneath layers of security so complex that even FRIDAY hadn't known it was there. It activated without warning, locking itself behind protocols no one had ever seen before.
Bruce had initially assumed it was another forgotten contingency Tony never mentioned.
Tony had loved contingency plans.
This one was different.
It ignored passwords.
Ignored biometric scans.
Ignored emergency Stark overrides.
It had even rejected Tony's archived DNA profile.
It wasn't waiting for permission.
It was waiting for someone.
The elevator chimed softly.
Pepper Potts stepped into the laboratory, a tablet tucked beneath one arm.
She offered the two men a tired smile.
"I was wondering if either of you had gone home."
Sam answered first.
"He's considering it."
Bruce frowned.
"I am?"
"In another twelve hours."
Pepper shook her head with a quiet laugh before holding out the tablet.
"I found something."
Bruce immediately accepted it.
The document was surprisingly short.
Most of it consisted of routine project logs and archived engineering reports. Nothing unusual.
Until one file caught his eye.
PROJECT PROMETHEUS
His pulse quickened.
He opened it.
The file contained exactly one sentence.
If you're reading this... I'm sorry.
Bruce read it twice.
Then a third time.
Tony apologized for almost nothing.
If he'd written those words...
Whatever Prometheus truly was, it wasn't simply another invention.
Sam leaned over Bruce's shoulder.
"That's... all there is?"
Pepper nodded.
"We searched every archive Tony left behind."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing."
Bruce slowly looked toward the inactive platform at the center of the room.
An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach.
"FRIDAY."
Silence.
He frowned.
"FRIDAY?"
Pepper lowered her gaze.
"Bruce..."
He looked back.
"She's gone."
His expression tightened.
"What do you mean?"
"The day Prometheus activated, every backup of FRIDAY disappeared."
Bruce blinked.
"...Disappeared?"
Pepper nodded once.
"It absorbed everything."
"The voice files."
"The memory banks."
"Every fragment of her code."
"There isn't anything left."
Before Bruce could respond, every light inside the laboratory flickered.
The room plunged into darkness.
Sam instinctively stepped in front of Pepper.
"What was that?"
A low mechanical hum echoed through the lab.
The circular platform in the center slowly illuminated, thin streams of blue light spreading across its surface like veins beneath glass.
Bruce hadn't touched a single control.
No one had.
The lights dimmed again.
Then a calm, unfamiliar voice echoed through the room.
> Searching...
Bruce's breath caught.
The voice continued.
> Evaluating candidates...
A hologram burst to life above the platform.
One name appeared.
DR. BRUCE BANNER
For a brief moment...
Hope.
Then—
> REJECTED
Sam frowned.
"...Seriously?"
Another name appeared.
SAM WILSON
> REJECTED
Pepper.
Rejected.
James Rhodes.
Rejected.
Carol Danvers.
Rejected.
Stephen Strange.
Rejected.
Shuri.
Rejected.
The names continued appearing one after another.
Scientists.
Inventors.
Engineers.
Every brilliant person Tony had ever trusted.
Every single one.
Rejected.
Bruce watched in stunned silence.
Whatever Prometheus was searching for...
It wasn't finding it.
The final name disappeared.
The voice spoke one last time.
> Suitable candidate not found.
The hologram vanished.
The platform went dark.
The laboratory returned to silence.
Bruce stared at the empty space where the hologram had floated only seconds earlier.
His coffee had gone cold.
Sam slowly broke the silence.
"So..."
He looked toward Bruce.
"If Tony didn't build this for us..."
Bruce couldn't pull his eyes away from the dormant platform.
"...Then who did he build it for?"
Far beneath the compound...
Hidden behind encryption no human had ever reached...
Project Prometheus quietly continued searching.
Waiting.
For someone it had never met.