"Hey!" said Tony, getting angry now as well. "Don't you ever say that to me again, Banner. There are no words to describe how much I care about Pepper's welfare, what I'd do to make sure she was safe!"
"You have a funny way of showing it," said Bruce tightly.
"You can't think I'd honestly put Pepper in harm's way intentionally?" asked Tony in disbelief.
Bruce's reply was sharp. "I think you don't think."
"Tis enough quarrelling," Thor ordered them. "We are comrades in arms, we must begin to act as such." He stepped forward and looked like he had more to say on the subject but in the process stood on the broken remote. In one last act of service, the device turned the TV on again and the room was treated to a very large viewing of some rather graphic images and cries of delirium.
Bruce started in surprise, taking in the images. "Whoa, you guys really were watching porn," he said in disbelief, distracted from his ire.
"No, we weren't," said Steve in horror and clapped his hands together quickly, but he did it too fast and he turned it off and on and again. The images were even more graphic now which Steve hadn't believed possible.
"Just clap once," Tony instructed him. "I swear, I could train a dung beetle faster." He went to clap his hands but Steve was already doing it so the TV was turned on and off again.
"Thou are doing it wrong," said Thor and joined in the clapping just as Tony and Steve both tried to turn the TV off. At one point all four men were clapping and the TV was flicking on and off at a frightening rate.
"Everyone stop clapping!" Tony yelled at them in exasperation.
Everyone did as he asked and Tony gave one final clap and the TV was finally off.
Bruce looked around the room at the others now that that it was over. "Well," he said straight-faced, "let's hope the super villains of the world don't hear about this little debacle."
"I say we never speak of this again," said Tony.
"I am in agreement."
"Absolutely."
"This never happened."
Tony's face brightened. "Hey, look at that. That's the first time we've all agreed on something."
Steve pulled a face. "Pity we can't tell anyone."
Tony gave a philosophical shrug. "You take the good with the bad." He walked over to the wall and pulled out a panel to which a string of complicated wiring was attached. Tony disconnected a back board and walked over to his desk with it.
"Are you still working on Jarvis?" asked Bruce in exasperation as he watched Tony start to pull at some wires. "How long does it take?"
"I have to keep stopping to help Dumb and Dumber here work out technology or clean up after them," said Tony, nodding at Steve and Thor. "And don't think I didn't notice the state of my remote."
"It was ill-made," said Thor unapologetically.
"You break one more thing of mine today and you're going in a time out," Tony warned him as he spread out the circuitry on his work bench.
"I feel like I should apologise to Pepper," said Bruce unhappily.
"Don't worry, Bruce," Steve reassured him. "Pepper had the Hulk eating out of the palm of her hand."
"Really?" asked Bruce in surprise.
"Tis true, Bruce Banner," Thor confirmed. "The maiden commanded the beast and he followed."
Bruce looked taken aback. "That's only ever happened with Betty."
Tony gave him a sharp look. "The big guy can tell Pepper and Betty apart, right? I don't want there to be any cases of mistaken identity because I'm telling you now, I'm not going to be happy if Kermit puts the moves on my girl."
Bruce gave him an exasperated look. "Don't be ridiculous, Tony, but this makes my point that it's too dangerous to train the Hulk."
"No," Tony argued, "it makes my point that the Hulk can listen to reason and be directed."
Bruce frowned and looked uncertain.
"Just admit I'm right and then we can all move on," Tony encouraged him. "You know you want to."
"For once Tony Stark makes a sound argument," said Thor. "I saw with my own eyes that your beast can be calmed, Bruce Banner. Thou should not give up on him."
Bruce grimaced. "I'll think about it."
Tony grinned, clearly taking that as a victory. "Great, then that's settled."
"I'm not doing it unless Pepper gives the go ahead and she isn't in the building," Bruce warned him.
Tony nodded blithely. "Goes without saying."
"Where is Pepper?" Steve asked.
Tony checked his watch. "She should be strapping into the private yet on the way to Washington right about now. There is some kind of stockholders thing. She won't be back until tomorrow." He looked at Bruce. "Plenty of time to get another go round in."
"I'm still thinking about it," Bruce warned him. "Don't push me."
Tony threw him a coquettish look. "I love it when you play hard to get."
oooOOOOooo
Happy's lungs were fit to burst as he pounded up the internal stairwell of the Avenger's Tower. They led to the service elevator of the building and he knew that it was a quicker route to the media room where Jarvis had told him Tony was. Why didn't the man keep his damn phone on him all the time? Then he wouldn't be risking a heart attack to try and get to him. Happy was finally at the service elevator, he jumped in and pressed the button of where he needed to go and then doubled over, hands on knees as he wheezed for his next breath. He looked up at the rapidly increasing numbers on the elevator display and blinked the sweat out of his eyes. Happy willed the numbers to go faster, knowing that lives were at stake if he didn't get there in time…
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‼️🎈hello everyone thank you so much for reading this chapter! 🙏 If you'd like to read the full novel "The Price of Legacy", you can find it on my Ko-fi page: ko-fi.com in the store section in PDF format. This fanfic will consist of 30 chapters .
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