"Banner." Low, worn- fucking exhausted, honestly, but it was cards on the table time. "Do you know how long I've been dealing with Ross? General Thunderbolt 'can you make this missile more lethal, kid' Ross? Since I was twenty two. SI's was the US' top military contractor for decades, he'd been around my father and around me for as long as he had a position of power in the military and no matter how efficient we made our work, how much we poured into reconstruction or defense all he ever wanted to know was how much more damage we could pack per bullet."
His hand curled around the edges of his workbench, shoulders tense, head hanging low. "I know Ross. I know how he thinks and what he wants. I know he wants more weapons. I know he doesn't give a fuck what it takes to get them, I know he doesn't look at people like you or Wanda as human just as much as I know half the reason I got the reactor taken out was so he wouldn't find an excuse to try and pull it from me the next time I pissed him off, or ask for the specs for the miniaturized reactors again. I know he wanted both of you because I spent every damn week fielding requests, demands, and suits for your blood, for her arrest because you don't get to drop a city on people without getting labeled a war criminal. Maybe I should've been more open as to what the consequences of breaking the law would be but I assumed that, maybe, they would try to not. But don't sit there and tell me 'you don't know Ross' when I dealt with him more than fucking anyone trying to keep the both of you, all of you, safe."
Because that's what he did. And he did it until he couldn't because there wasn't a single argument he could make on their behalf to keep them safe, not a single petition he could make to get them transferred anywhere because there wasn't anywhere that could hold them thanks to Wanda collapsing several floors of the damn compound. Did it matter? Did any of it matter? Tony's shoulders sagged, suddenly, and he turned back to stare at the list. Small things. Concrete things he could build and fix without any of the bullshit expectations or assumptions. "More than half my life I spent handling shit in the realm of public opinion, the court of law, and the bureaucratic red tape to handle SI's projects and contracts. And not one of you trusts me to be able to handle this shit. Kind of expected it from the wonder twins and even Rogers, but you?"
Tony shook his head turning to stare back at Bruce on the bench. "That hurts, Banner. I thought you knew me better than that."
no subject
His hand curled around the edges of his workbench, shoulders tense, head hanging low. "I know Ross. I know how he thinks and what he wants. I know he wants more weapons. I know he doesn't give a fuck what it takes to get them, I know he doesn't look at people like you or Wanda as human just as much as I know half the reason I got the reactor taken out was so he wouldn't find an excuse to try and pull it from me the next time I pissed him off, or ask for the specs for the miniaturized reactors again. I know he wanted both of you because I spent every damn week fielding requests, demands, and suits for your blood, for her arrest because you don't get to drop a city on people without getting labeled a war criminal. Maybe I should've been more open as to what the consequences of breaking the law would be but I assumed that, maybe, they would try to not. But don't sit there and tell me 'you don't know Ross' when I dealt with him more than fucking anyone trying to keep the both of you, all of you, safe."
Because that's what he did. And he did it until he couldn't because there wasn't a single argument he could make on their behalf to keep them safe, not a single petition he could make to get them transferred anywhere because there wasn't anywhere that could hold them thanks to Wanda collapsing several floors of the damn compound. Did it matter? Did any of it matter? Tony's shoulders sagged, suddenly, and he turned back to stare at the list. Small things. Concrete things he could build and fix without any of the bullshit expectations or assumptions. "More than half my life I spent handling shit in the realm of public opinion, the court of law, and the bureaucratic red tape to handle SI's projects and contracts. And not one of you trusts me to be able to handle this shit. Kind of expected it from the wonder twins and even Rogers, but you?"
Tony shook his head turning to stare back at Bruce on the bench. "That hurts, Banner. I thought you knew me better than that."