The Dark Side Whispers (Bruce Banner)

Chapter 11: Natural

The cat was out of the bag. He was Iron Man, and the world knew it now. Oh, wow, the world knew it now. It had been a long day and at this point, Tony just wanted to sleep.

The security alarm to the main floor had been tripped, the mansion otherwise quiet. Tony undid his tie as he climbed up the stairs from the garage, a little tired but also... uneasy. He called out, "Danny? JARVIS?"

The AI had responded but seemed to lose power as it spoke: "Ẅ̴ͅe̵͇͂l̷͕̋̕c̵̡̯̮̃͂̋o̵̢̦͋m̵̢̏e̷̦̽͂ ̷͓͚̈́̚͠ȟ̴̘ö̶̢̭́͆m̶̙͋͒̈́e̷͚̮̿,̶͖̃̋̇ ̵̣̹̐s̷͔̈́̚i̴̟̖̣̋r̴͔̍..."

His immediate thought zeroed in on the girl, making the decision to check on her. Tony turned to continue up the stairs before catching a shadow from the corner of his eye; he tried to ignore the rapid beating of his heart. There was a figure standing against the living room window, staring out into the ocean-side. Tony straightened forward, eyes narrowing at the man wearing a leather trench coat.

"'I am Iron Man'," the mysterious man repeated mockingly, forgoing an introduction. He shook his head, turning on his heel. "You think you're the only superhero in the world? Mr. Stark, you've become a part of a bigger universe; you just don't know it yet."

"Who the hell are you?" Tony asked.

"Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD." The man stepped out from the shadows. He was dark-skinned, broad-shouldered, and donned a comically accurate eye-patch. Tony scoffed out a soft "Oh," as if his answer had provided any form of clarity. "I'm here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative," Fury finished.

Tony glanced back up to the stairs, frowning slightly. He inquired instead, "What did you do to the kid?"

"Ms. Barton is fast asleep in her room." Fury blinked at him with the one eye, shifting to link his fingers together in front of him. "She's fine, if that's what you're worried about."

The brunet watched Fury from the corner of his eyes as he stalked over to the side table, grabbing the glass bottle of scotch and pouring out a finger. "I don't care who you are," he said frankly. "You want to talk to me about anything, you make an appointment. I think the twelfth of never is open."

"Look, Stark –"

Tony brought the glass up, raising his brows. "You want an initiative? Fine. Take the initiative and leave before I call in my security guard to escort you." The threat was clean on his lips as he said, "You may have read about him. Big guy. Repulsor rays. You'd like him."

Fury frowned, moving forward. "Mr. Stark, I came here to offer you an opportunity –"

"Opportunities aren't offered, they're taken. If there's one out there, I'll find it myself." Tony had to hold back a cynical laugh as he continued, "I don't need government intruders in my house dangling them."

The two of them held each other's gaze. Tony gave the SHIELD director one of his signature smirks as he said with finality, "You know the way out, Mr. Furry."

"Fury," the man corrected. "And I'll be keeping an eye on you, Stark."

"Well, you've just got the one, so try not to trip over anything," Tony snarked back.

The Director disappeared through the front door, his back stiff as he threw one last look over his shoulder. Tony swung back the remainder of his scotch before heading up to the second floor, taking the stairs two at a time. He found Danny in her room, just like Fury said.

Tony stepped over to her bed lithely, reaching to turn off the bedside lamp. Danny was asleep, sprawled across the mattress. The man thought to leave her be until the hallway light reflected off of something; he cursed under his breath after pulling a tranquilizer dart from her neck. Tony, very briefly, wondered if Danny had given Director Fury a hard time. Looking at the sheer size of the dart, he concluded that she must have. The back of his hand hovered over her mouth, and he sighed in relief when he felt her breathe. It was shallow, but there, nonetheless.