Although Banner was now living with Clark, there had been no progress in his communication with the Hulk. Ever since Clark had beaten him back, the Hulk had refused to come out. Banner figured the Hulk was probably in a bad mood… but then again, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.
If the Hulk never showed up again, Banner thought, then maybe he could finally live a normal life.
The next afternoon, when Happy arrived in a car to pick them up, Clark learned that Banner would be joining them on their trip to Vienna—Tony had even given him ten shares in the new company.
"Clark, you're going too?" Banner asked, surprised to see Clark and Diana getting into the car with Happy. He'd thought Happy was just there to pick him up.
"Tony thinks it's a bit risky for him to take sole control over the cleanup operation in New York," Clark replied after getting into the car. "So he asked me to help. You know Tony—he's worried that the Chitauri weapons are too powerful, and if they fall into the wrong hands, it could cause another disaster."
Banner nodded. He understood Tony's concerns and agreed that instead of letting the government outsource the cleanup to a private contractor, it made more sense to let Tony handle the Chitauri tech.
As the car rolled along, Clark glanced over at Banner. Now that he, Diana, and Banner all had shares in the company, he started to wonder if the rest of the Avengers had shares too.
But then he reconsidered. Barton and Natasha were government employees—stock ownership didn't really suit them. As for Thor, well, he was a prince of Asgard. He might be richer than Tony, but his wealth certainly wasn't in U.S. dollars.
Instead of heading toward New York City, the car went north, deeper into New York State.
"The Stark Tower took some damage during the battle of New York," Happy said from the driver's seat. "So it's under renovation. We're going to Mr. Stark's warehouse in upstate New York instead. He plans to convert it into a new base."
"It's still under construction," Happy continued, "but it already has a basic airfield. We'll fly to Vienna on Mr. Stark's private jet from there."
When Clark heard this, he thought Tony might have sold off the Stark Tower in Manhattan and decided to relocate Avengers HQ to the new upstate facility.
As it turned out, Tony's warehouse wasn't far from Clark's villa. Maybe Tony had even bought the nearby property because of its proximity to the warehouse district. Though calling it a "warehouse" didn't quite do it justice—it was more like a massive industrial zone.
When Clark and the others arrived at Tony's office, they found him and Pepper standing in front of a holographic projection, discussing renovation plans. If Clark was seeing things correctly, the projection was showing the exact location they were currently standing in.
"Not bad," Tony said, gesturing toward the projection. "I'm going to turn this into our very own Avengers base."
After the near-disaster with the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, Tony had decided it was unreliable—too easy to shoot down. Sure, it might protect civilians, but for someone like him and the kind of enemies he faced, a flying base was just a giant target.
Tony had already come up with dozens of ways to shoot it down himself.
And ever since discovering Fury had secretly been using the Tesseract to create weapons—and had even recruited someone like Loki—Tony had completely lost faith in S.H.I.E.L.D. So while he was happy to be an Avenger, he refused to be one who was controlled or manipulated.
The Battle of New York had left Tony shaken. He feared another alien invasion. That's why he started preparing for the next fight—building a base, taking control of the battlefield cleanup, and securing powerful alien tech. It wasn't just for personal safety—it was to ensure the next fight didn't spiral into catastrophe.
After all, Tony still remembered that the military had tried to nuke New York. He wasn't about to let something like that happen again.
"Looks good. It's huge," Clark commented, nodding. The property probably covered several million square feet.
"Great. Once it's done, we'll finally have a proper home base," Tony said, emphasizing "our" with extra flair.
"Tony, it's time. There's a reception tonight in Vienna," Pepper reminded him, saving the blueprints in J.A.R.V.I.S. and giving him a pointed look.
"Alright, alright. Let's go then," Tony said with a shrug.
A few hours later, Tony's private jet delivered them to Vienna International Airport.
"Are you guys coming to the reception tonight?" Tony asked once they had checked into their hotel.
Clark knew the so-called "reception" was less about socializing and more of a networking event for the various people involved in the battlefield cleanup effort.
He shook his head and said, "Diana and I will sit this one out. We're just here to show our faces. I don't want Diana to spend her evening in Vienna stuck at a political party."
"Fair point," Tony said. "Honestly, I don't want to go either—"
"Tony~!" Pepper warned, cutting him off before he could go further. While Tony was no longer CEO of Stark Industries, it was still important for him to attend events like this. His presence carried weight.
"Fine, fine," Tony surrendered with a raised hand. Then he turned to Banner. "How about you, Banner? I have a feeling you're really dying to come with us."
Faced with Tony's expectant expression, Banner didn't hold out for long.
"Alright, I'll come with you," he sighed.
But right after saying that, he glanced toward Clark and Diana. Clark, however, acted like he didn't notice. He simply took Diana's hand and walked out of the hotel with her.
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