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Chapter 67.2
Technomancer in MCU
Stark Tower
–Bruce Banner–
When Bruce had been first offered a safe place to live and a lab all to himself by Tony after all the others had gone their own ways after New York, he was hesitant. Hesitant to accept an offer from someone who up until a few years ago, had made his fortune from selling weapons but he would be a fool to say that he had not seen Tony’s development from being a weapons dealer to becoming someone who had not hesitated when he latched onto a nuclear missile and chosen to go on a one-way suicide mission.
So, he took Tony up on his offer and agreed to move into the Stark Tower immediately as he really had no belongings to his name at the time. Fast forward a few years and he had settled down properly while also getting adjusted to the whirlwind of chaos that was living with Tony Stark. Pepper was a godsend but there was only so much even she could do about Tony. But it was nice not having to worry about the basic necessities and more importantly, not having to look over his shoulder every moment because some trigger-happy general from the Army decided that they needed to requisition their “asset”. He was very happy doing his own projects in his personal lab most of the time with only Jarvis as his company but he did occasionally get roped into Tony’s personal projects when Tony felt like doing so. Exactly like that one time when Tony had dragged him out of his lab and showed him the doors to his basement.
He had been skeptical of that at first but after listening to Alfred talk about it and finding out more and more about all the things he could do with the lab had cemented his belief that Ed truly was ahead of the world, at least in terms of technology.
Finding out that the Hulk truly was a problem of the mind rather than something that could be solved using genetic sciences, just like Alfred had told him, was disheartening but then again, it was not as if the lab did not come with its own form of solution for his problem. The biggest benefit of the lab would not be the matter reconfigurator(no matter how much Tony gushed over it) but the environment of the lab. It was bathed in the same yellow light that Ed’s machines used to heal people during the Battle of New York. After repeated observations, he had observed and he was sure that Tony had too, that the CHI light as it was written in the documents was a literal miracle. The benefits were too numerous to list but the one he was most interested in was the calming effect it had on the mind, not to mention it somehow boosted the brain's functions if a person had prolonged exposure to it. After listening to all the health benefits of CHI and after having it repeatedly tested on himself and a host of animals they could fit through the lab doors, Tony pestered Pepper(heh!) to spend as much time as she could in the lab bathing under the yellow light of CHI. After a while, as Pepper noticed the effects CHI had on her skin, she could be found in the lab, doing her work quietly on the separate desk Tony had brought in for her as she had refused to work on the hard light constructs readily available in the lab because according to her, they did not feel solid.
He had also built many cool things in the lab, ranging from advanced repulsion systems to a building design to take the entire Stark Tower and put it into orbit. He had gawked at Tony when he had first announced the plan to do so but he had to admit, it had been fun designing and building the experimental prototypes to do so, though the disturbing gleam in Tony’s eyes when they saw a proportional model fly without breaking apart under its own weights told him enough of Tony’s future plans regarding a flying building in space with his name on it. Ever since then, he had refused to take part in Tony’s disturbing obsession with putting giant things into space with his name on it. It was an unhealthy mental fixation he had and that was coming from him, the king of mental health issues.
Today, as he was working on his personal projects in peace for once as Pepper had arrived with some important news and they both had retired to the Penthouse for privacy, he had all the lab to himself. Not that it made any difference since the lab could, in theory, conjure up a thousand football-field-length rooms if he needed to. He still could not make heads or tails about the technology they used to manipulate and fold space in an enclosed building, all the while not giving off any sort of background radiation, other than the normal, at all. He had given his all regarding that problem but it had proven to be a rather tough cookie to crack and in the end, he was not Tony who could focus single-mindedly until the problem was solved and his most important pursuits lay elsewhere as well so went back on working for a procedure for Jennifer so that she could turn back to her normal form at least temporarily. Her life had been complicated beyond belief anyway, he didn’t want to put her in even more danger by completely taking away her powers. That would paint a much bigger target on her head than just suppressing her powers because then, the government would stop at nothing to figure out how exactly she turned off her Hulk part so that they could have something to ambush him with.
As he was tuning out the rest of the world using the classical masterpiece that Jarvis had specifically composed for him using the advanced server space he had since the lab upgrade, his watch began beeping, altering him to a message. Without lowering the music, he asked, “Jarvis, what happened?”
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When he heard about what was happening, without a second’s delay, he ran towards the lift they had installed outside the basement doors which while still not up to the level of tech that they could build using the lab, Pepper had put down the foot down when Tony had the brilliant idea to redo the entire building for the lift to have multidimensional access. The lift doors shimmered into existence as soon as he entered it and soon he was at the penthouse where Tony and Pepper were watching the TV.
“Tony, what is happen-” his question got stuck in his mouth as he watched the humongous structure float above the destroyed Triskelion along with the same triple carrier formation that Ed had employed during the Chitauri Invasion. He had gotten the heads up from Tony saying that Cap had declared a traitor by S.H.I.E.L.D. after Fury’s death but he never imagined that Ed himself would take action and entirely destroy S.H.I.E.L.D.
Speaking of the spy agency’s destruction, “Tony, how far is Jarvis from cracking all the classified data that Cap and the others dumped on the open web?”
Tony, who was holding the remote in his hands, waved his hand in his direction carelessly, “Ages ago, buddy. The hard part was making sure that nobody else got access to the data at the same time he was downloading it. The internet truly is vast if even Jarvis required half an hour to do so,” then he turned towards him and said with an intensity he had never seen before from him, “But that's not the main part. I have already received calls from the National Guard, The Army, the Air Force, the Navy, Pentagon and I don’t know how much longer I can keep ignoring them. Hell, I don’t think it will take long for a call from the president to arrive on my doorstep. And I am sure you are aware of what they will be asking us to do?”
He fell silent at Tony’s uncomfortable question because he realised the uncomfortable situation he was putting Tony in. Tony had businesses, interests, and money tied up in the country and while the President would not be able to push Tony to do anything he didn't want to, Tony also could not just brush off a request from the President. Even he knew that it would be bad for his business and his overall career as a hero. And while they both knew that Iron Man was strong, it had been already demonstrated during the last invasion that they had access to far superior armours and suits. No, while they were calling for Tony to help, it was clear that what they truly wanted was for the Hulk to participate in the battle if it broke out.
He chuckled bitterly, “So, now they want me to fight for them? Against the very people who are our best shot at beating the odds and emerging as a truly advanced civilisation in the universe? No. You go right ahead Tony but if they come knocking, tell them that you don’t know where I am. I’ll pack my things.”
Pepper’s eyes widened as she waved her arms in denial of his statement, “No no NO! Bruce, you have to realise that we would never let anything of that sort happen. If and only If the call comes and they tell you to come, Tony will be there and them calling us doesn't mean that we have to fight their battle. The first thing you guys should do is open a dialogue. From what I’ve heard they have announced an emergency UN meeting in New York and that's probably where you two will be headed. Thor’s off-world so the heaviest fighting power of the Avengers is right here in this building. They probably just need you to act as a deterrent and a show of power would always help in negotiations. I would suggest you go and talk with Alfred and Ed. They don't seem to be the bad guys and you going there could avoid a misunderstanding that, from what I understand, would end in the government losing?”
“Yeah, they would lose so bad it's not even funny. It's worse than an adult defeating a toddler. From the data I’ve had access to in the labs, they could and most probably have built planetary shields which somehow can,” and here he made quotation marks in the air, “Deny any sort of explosion above a designated range.”
His eyes widened as he thought of the implications, “So, that would mean No nukes?”
Tony nodded as Pepper gasped.
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Word Count - 1979
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A/N : A bit of a data dump but I have come to realise that I have not given enough context in the story till now so the next few chapters might be data-heavy but the next ones should only have a little bit of extra information sprinkled in but they should probably be the normal chapters that you all know and love.
Sorry for the delayed chapter. Friday night Barbeque was so good. Ended up sleeping in and by the time I got out of my bed, it was already evening. So, it is still Saturday in my time zone, so here you go with the chapter.
Tomorrow is Sunday! God’s day!(People need sleep, guys!) so we'll see each other tomorrow(or you’ll see the notification of the new chapter, either way, fine.)
As always, thank you for reading!
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