While their underwater mission had been successful in that they’d disabled the grid and made out with information they didn’t have before, there had been alarming discoveries. Ones that had taken awhile to get a more full picture of and even then they didn’t really have a complete one. His kind had stayed partially on that, and he knew that they had work to do. Normally he’d have got right to that instead, but he’d figured he should at least share the…update, all things considered. If he had some kind of bounty on his head, it might not be an option to keep working quietly in the lab.
“It was yesterday,” he admitted, since the alternative was that it had happened on his way there. There weren’t a lot of options, and Bruce wasn’t a liar about things so easily disproved and pointless. “The guy was in a red suit and using bullets. I don’t think he had a clue who I was. I looked him up, though. He’s called Deadshot.”
He did not answer the question about why he could manage to be that casual. It wasn’t a good thing to say, and he didn’t want it to be the conversation. The truth of it was that he would never actually care if someone succeeded in doing it. Over and over he’d wondered what, if anything, could kill him. He’d even tried doing it himself. He had an unspoken, standing dare with the universe to just do it, but so far nothing had managed to pull it off. With Hulk’s recent bid for control again, the desire was bubbling to the surface again after being dormant for awhile. Bruce didn’t want to go…backwards. He didn’t want to slide all the way back, to start losing time, to open his eyes in the middle of nowhere and wonder if the sickness in his stomach was because Hulk had finally gone too far and killed someone.
“I meant to call but I-“ he made a gesture toward his temple, “guess I forgot.”
It was difficult for Tony not to get restless. He had to be doing something to keep his mind occupied, otherwise anxiety and irritability began to creep in. Upgrading his systems and downloading data always took time. It was one thing he hated about the lab - most of the time, anyway. A lot of waiting with little payoff. While he hoped it wouldn’t be the case this time, it was difficult imagining a positive outcome when they were working with so many unknown variables. They had no context for the numbers they were getting because it wasn’t radiation they understood. The rules might be different. This was uncharted territory. On some level it was exciting, but nerve-wracking when an entire city was at risk of possible side effects.
But that was forgotten almost immediately at this bit of... expected news. “Who? Do I know him?” The name sounded vaguely familiar, but at some point all a lot of villains started sounding the same. Something about death or fire, maybe insert a great here or there. “If he doesn’t know who you are, then what was he doing?”
He was eyeing Bruce hard, waiting for him to speak. Maybe even daring him to. After all, Tony wasn’t stupid. He knew what Bruce would say and he wanted a reason to snap at him. The news put him on edge. It was another unknown to contend with. Already, he was thinking of where to get information about Deadshot. He could think of about twelve sources right off the top of his head. Thirteen, if you counted Batman. Big if.
“Right. Of course. As one does,” he replied with a shrug, but his tone was heavy with sarcasm. “Ridiculous for me to be alarmed by this information, or at all interested in why this stranger wants to kill you.” Bruce’s attitude about death disturbed him. It made him angry, but he wasn’t sure where to direct the anger or where it came from. All he knew was that he wanted to discourage it in any way possible. “It might be difficult to imagine lately, but I do exist outside the lab.” It was a brief but cutting comment that he quickly moved past. Already he had his phone out and google open. “Anyone know this guy’s real name?”
yousharknotpass
andulkaphoto
izzy806
snowghoul
baratheonpilled
theartofmadeline
