Bruce blinks but before he can answer, the armored figure turns and leaves. He does so damn near silently too, disappearing out the door and off into the sky before Bruce can do more than get off of his stool. He stares after his unexpected visitor for a long moment, those final words echoing in his head … and then he goes and grabs the Starkphone off of the filing cabinet, along with a few other essentials before leaving without a single backwards glance.
-x-X-x-
Meeting Bruce again had been… interesting. Part of Tony just wanted to bring Bruce Banner onboard altogether. He could have probably ' cured ' Bruce in a single afternoon, completely removed the Hulk from him entirely, and left him as a simple mild-mannered scientist.
But Tony didn't want to do that. Not only did he feel like the Hulk deserved to exist, it would invite far too much attention if he took Bruce completely off the board and started protecting him. Tony didn't want to deal with Thaddeus Ross and his particular brand of insanity just yet. Actually, he didn' t want to deal with the man ever, if he could help it… which he could.
That could wait though, because now that he'd gotten Bruce out of Ross' warpath, there wasn't going to be any battle between the Hulk and the Abomination in Harlem in June. And that meant Tony could focus entirely on juggling his duties at the Stark Expo alongside the upcoming extraterrestrial visit from Asgard.
He already had Dr. Foster, Dr. Selvig, and Poli Sci Major Darcy Lewis visiting the Expo at the moment. Being their primary backer when it came to resources had allowed him to gently strongarm them into coming out for the opening ceremonies. Of course, soon enough the atmospheric disturbances in New Mexico would draw the three of them away from the Expo… giving Tony the perfect excuse to follow and make a nuisance of himself when Thor arrived on Earth for the first time.
Dealing with the Hulk and Ross and Blonsky alongside all of that was one mess too many… so Tony had just shunted the problem down the road. Would Ross find Bruce again and make a mess of things later on? Maybe. Or maybe Tony would just keep Bruce one step ahead of Ross until the stars aligned for it to be the perfect time for the Hulk to take center stage.
Of course, there was also the possibility that Bruce would take everything Tony had given him and devise a 'cure'. Tony hoped not, but he'd already decided he wasn't going to stop the man if that's what Bruce wound up doing. It was out of his hands now.
Though, visiting Bruce had left Tony thinking about the other rage monster he had very much ON his hands still. And so, flying back from Brazil, the billionaire finds himself paying a visit to one James Barnes, former Winter Soldier.
"How we feeling today?"
Still in the cozy, fully furnished prison cell where Tony had stuck him, the man looks up from the book he's reading and presses his lips tightly together.
"… Fine."
Tony hums and nods. Just as he'd hoped, being allowed to recover in a lot nicer circumstances then the first time around had helped Barnes break free of the conditioning a lot faster. It also helped that Tony had basically bombarded him with his past, giving him access to nothing but the mission records of the Howling Commandoes as well as some really dumb films made about their exploits for James to watch. In fact, one of the first things to come out of his mouth that Tony was ninety-nine percent sure was all Barnes and not the Soldier had been a grumbled 'That's not what fucking happened at all' while he was watching one of the old war movies Tony had prepared for him.
And yet…
"Think you're ready to maybe go out for a walk, Barnes?"
Pure, unadulterated panic spreads across the man's face.
"… I'd rather not if it's all the same to you."
Yeah, that was about what Tony had come to expect. James Buchanan Barnes had been quite the suave, extroverted individual according to history. But as he was now… he was afraid of everything. Mostly though, he was afraid of himself and the damage he could cause. Tony just shrugs, still all smiles.
"Sure Barnes. Not a problem. Anything I can get for you in the meantime before I go?"
When the brainwashed assassin actually hesitates for a moment, Tony perks up, curious what's about to come out of his mouth. Unfortunately, it's not some ludicrous request like a thousand pizzas, unfortunately. Instead, it ' s a rather ragged…
"Why?"
When Tony raises an eyebrow in response, Barnes closes and uncloses his one flesh and blood hand. The metal arm is gone, removed at his request several months ago.
"… Why are you doing all of this for me? Keeping me safe? Taking care of me? Helping me? I … I remember. I killed him… and her."
He doesn't say their names, thank fucking god. Tony has come a long way since Siberia… he's literally traveled through time in fact. But hearing his mother or father 's names from Barnes' lips would have been… triggering as the youth called it these days.
For a long moment, Tony considers the question. Then, he quirks up the side of his mouth and answers.
"Because I'm a super villain Barnes. I'm taking over the world and you play an integral part in my plans. Why else?"
For a moment, just a moment, Bucky Barnes flashes a grin right out of an old, yellowed photo. He even snorts too, before getting solemn and withdrawn again. With a roll of his eyes, Tony claps his hands together. "Well, this has been fun but I am a busy man so if you're intent on keeping yourself locked up, I'll leave you to it. Let JARVIS know if you need anything."
"… Yeah."
Truthfully, Tony is one hundred percent using the other man's own fears against him. Barnes had 'woken up' here in this place, regaining so much of what he lost under Tony and JARVIS' care. He felt safe with them because of it. If Barnes suddenly did want to go outside, Tony actually didn't really have a plan for that… he'd have to improvise and while he was pretty damn good at that, it still might get messy.
But by offering the recluse the opportunity, he allowed Barnes to be the one to shut down the idea, time after time. And that kept the former Winter Soldier complacent and under wrap, just as Tony needed him to be.
Leaving the super soldier to his very, very slow recovery, Tony heads back to the Expo. He's only been gone for an hour, barely enough time to be missed. This time around, there will be no Vanko. No drones. Still some Justin Hammer, but Tony is willing to let the little guy continue to live in his shadow and ultimately make Tony look better by comparison.
For every winner, you have to have losers after all.
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