Chapter Text
The night ended as it usually did.
Peter and Mr. Stark marathoned the Lord of the Rings movies, ate obscene amounts of pizza, and worked on various suits and prototypes until near morning. It was dark and quiet, the only sound being the soft hum of the building and silent clicks of the tech on the floors and tables. They fell asleep on the new lab couch, Peter covered in a bright red fuzzy blanket with a Spider-Man logo sewed in by May, and Tony left to the cold air.
They were getting their well-needed rest. Both had survived an incredibly busy week of either meetings or midterms, and the work took a toll on both of the engineers’ already barely-there sleep schedules.
The opening of a door, heavy footsteps, and the rustling of clothes and paper interrupted the silence, however.
Bruce Banner walked toward a large table and took a seat on a short stool. He sighed and took off his glasses to clean, as they still had smokey patches from the mission he was helping out with. He was about to put them back on when he saw a blurry blob on a couch. Wasn’t that couch green four days ago? Why was it purple now? Either way, as he tried to focus on what might be on the couch, Bruce remembered that he was, in fact, holding his glasses.
After putting his glasses on, he looked over at the oddly colored couch. It was just Tony and some kid sleeping. For a moment, Bruce didn’t think anything of it. That was, until his mind and eyes really caught up to each other. Banner narrowed his eyebrows and squinted at the people on the couch. “What in the world is going on here, a child? In a highly classified lab?” Bruce muttered to himself. He quietly and worriedly left the room, deciding to find someone with answers..
Speed-walking through the hallways, Bruce ran through hundreds of explanations and thoughts. Thought number one was that it was a hallucination. Stark hates kids. Despises them, even. So the possibility wasn’t zero. Number two was that maybe the kid snuck in. The idea was immediately shut down though, because it was ridiculous. It was possible that he was some sort of robot, or a new AI. Was it time travel? Magic? He had no idea, and it was giving the scientist anxiety.
A few more ideas and explanations passed through before Bruce was in the elevator and thought to ask FRIDAY.
“FRIDAY, please bring me to the lounge,” He waited a few moments in silence before speaking up again. “And.. Who was that kid in the lab?”
“I apologize, Dr. Banner, but you don't have the clearance for that information.” Came the unexpected response.
My clearance is too low to know? He thought, But I’m at level nine, the only level higher than that is- Banner paused for a moment, contemplating the thought. The only level higher is for family- which means that..
Having created a hypothesis, He left the elevator and hurriedly made his way to the lounge. He decides to find Rhodey, because if anyone knew anything about Tony or his life, it would be James Rhodes.