For a moment, Tony is a little worried because… well, he might have made his side too strong. It's one thing to let Pierce in on his plans, but if he'd had to tell Rumlow and the rest of the Iron Legion to sandbag so Loki could escape, then they might have questions… as well as demands later on. Fortunately, Clint Barton is an exceptional strategist, even while brainwashed.
In the original timeline, knowing about Tony's Iron Man Armor, the Archer had attacked one of the Helicarrier's four turbines on their way in so that Tony would be forced to focus solely on making sure that the flying aircraft carrier didn't plummet out of the sky. This time around, Barton takes the Iron Legion into account and attacks TWO of the Helicarrier's four turbines on the way in, immediately causing the ship to begin careening sideways.
Tony doesn't hesitate to tap into the Iron Legion's comms, putting a finger to his empty ear more for Bruce's benefit than anything else.
"Rumlow! Legion! Get suited up and get out there. Keep the Helicarrier in the sky at all costs!"
He gets an affirmative response to that and even as Tony pretends to stagger his way across the laboratory to where Bruce has caught himself, he can feel the STRIKE Team hopping into their Iron Legion Suits and racing out to the broken turbines. Slowly, the Helicarrier is righted as a majority of the Iron Legion is forced to anchor themselves and use their Repulsor Boots to mimic the wrecked turbines, while the rest begin working on repairs.
Those repairs don't last long before mind controlled agents begin firing on them and disrupting their efforts at both turbines however, starting quite the little fire fight. A prelude of things to come between HYDRA and SHIELD, Tony finds himself morbidly noting internally. Outwardly, he reaches Bruce and grabs him by the shoulders.
"Dr. Banner? Are you alright?"
Shaken but in seemingly no danger of turning green, Bruce looks around wildly. It's obvious his heartrate is way up… but it's equally obvious that the medicine he managed to develop is working. Unless he takes enough physical damage to endanger his life, he's not going to transform like he did last time.
"…
Y-Yeah … happening?!"
yeah, I ' m okay! What …
what ' s
As the floor stops sloping thanks to the Iron Legion's efforts, Tony sighs and pulls Bruce all the way to his feet and out of the corner where he'd caught himself. "The Helicarrier is under attack. Loki's people have come to break her out, I assume. Can't have their world conquest plan without their Queen, after all."
At Tony's dry tone, Bruce bites his lower lip.
"Should we… I mean, we should stop her right?"
Shaking his head, Tony points a finger at Bruce.
"You don't need to do anything, Dr. Banner. You're not a soldier, you're a civilian scientist. This isn't your fight."
Grimacing, Bruce looks to the side.
"I mean… we developed that counteragent for a reason, didn't we? I have some on me in an injector… just in case. I could take it if you think you need the Hulk." Tony grins a little at that. On the one hand, he was glad that Bruce was even entertaining the idea. Before the other man had ever even known it was Tony, they ' d exchanged numerous long emails about the Hulk and Bruce ' s relationship with the big green killing machine in his head. Tony had done his best to try and help Bruce view the Hulk as a potential help instead of a hindrance, but in the end he'd also made sure to facilitate the creation of the drugs that allowed Bruce to suppress his alter-ego. Because at the end of the day, while Tony liked the Hulk… Bruce was his friend.
That said, he shakes his head at Bruce's suggestion.
"Think about it for a second, Bruce. The Hulk is a bomb and Loki's goons already set two of those off on their way in. The Helicarrier is already struggling… we don't need to add Big Green to the mix. I appreciate the offer, really I do… but I think it'd be better if you suited up and got to safety."
Bruce blinks at that last bit, only to startle when Tony snaps his fingers and Sneaky appears just a few feet away from them. He doesn't need to snap his fingers of course… but it is cool. As the armored suit opens up, Tony steps aside and gives Bruce a little push towards it.
"You… you're trusting me with one of your suits, Tony?"
Letting out a laugh at that, Tony just shakes his head.
"Don't be ridiculous, Bruce. I'm not trusting you with one of my suits, I'm trusting JARVIS with your safety. You're far more valuable than any one of my armors. Hell, I'd say you were the most valuable person on this Helicarrier… but eh, I' m here."
That gets a rueful grin from Bruce, even as JARVIS pipes up from Sneaky's frame.
"Please mind your step, Dr. Banner. I will be your flying assistant today." Bruce carefully steps forward, turning around and backing up into the suit, which envelopes around him. Before the helmet can engage however, he gives Tony a concerned look.
"Wait, what about you Tony? You're not exactly a soldier either. Where's your suit to fly you to safety?"
Tony chuckles and shakes his head.
"You don't have to worry about me, Brucie-bear. I haven't been a civilian since Afghanistan."
Then, because he's scrubbing the footage of this moment from SHIELD's servers in real time and because he's a sucker for a worried friend apparently, Tony brings down his sunglasses and gives Bruce a wink while allowing his eyes to glow Extremis Orange for a second. Bruce's eyes widen and then Sneaky's faceplate engages. After a moment of receiving instruction from JARVIS, Bruce manages to make the suit nod its head in Tony's direction, before stomping towards the nearest exit.
After which, Tony connects himself to Natasha's earpiece. Once he's made sure the line is completely secure, he speaks.
"Natasha. This might be your opportunity."
The former Black Widow pauses where she's at in the hallway, frowning.
"Stark? What do you mean?"
"Loki is going to get away. It's part of the plan. But if you want to 'die' valiantly while fighting her… you could trick her into throwing you off of the Helicarrier. Your 'remains' would be unrecognizable."
He sees Natasha considering the offer for a long moment. He can tell she's weighing her options and how badly she wants to go for it. He can easily make sure she slots into Coulson 's place in this little production, Tony figures. But in the end…
"Barton's on the Helicarrier, isn't he? Right now?"
Tony smiles ruefully, having been half-expecting this.
"… Yeah. Want directions?"
"Please. And sorry for making this difficult."
Tony shakes his head, even as he rattles off some instructions that will see Natasha running right into Clint.
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