savesthedance | voicemail;

Natasha left?

[He answers his own question by looking it up in his Dreamberry just after he responded. It's a shame, really. He was fond of the spy.

And then there's the whole issue of how Tony blatantly left Bruce out, which makes Steve sigh. But he didn't comment to that just yet. It was probably coming, but he waited for a text response first.]

I'm not going to dignify that question with a response. Your brain is supposed to be superpowered as well.

And let me say that I don't know these kids you've been recruiting, I don't even know if I can even work with them so consider it a big deal that the team is down to this. If Red Skull pulls something now, we are vulnerable.

They're good kids and they can handle themselves, trust me. But I stopped Schmidt once on my own, and there's still three of us. He's outnumbered either way.

[Not to mention, Schmidt was supposed to be keeping to that truce. Steve didn't really buy that he would, but he could only hope that Schmidt would behave and keep quiet until another friend or two came back to Somarium.]

They're still kids.

[Nothing against them, but Tony was far more used to the lone gun slinger act.]

And what if Schmidt finds himself some friends? There's no way that he's the only guy here with nefarious intentions.

The Hulk's been taken off the table, it's just the two of us.

Then let's hope our friends come back before he finds him some.

[It's something Steve had certainly considered. But Schmidt had been more of one to want to hold onto all the power than work as a team with someone else. Even after everything Dr. Zola did, Schmidt would have turned on him in a moments notice.

While it's certainly still a concern, he figured Schmidt might just be as much of a danger to other bad guys as they would be.]

He surprised us once. Maybe he will again. [Sorry, he just doesn't want to count Bruce out again.]

[Tony is a man who tries to be cynical.]

Fingers crossed but I'm not keeping my hopes up.

Unless his surprise is able to undo the cure there's not going to be any surprises here.

You never know with this place.

[It's surprised him before. He can't let go of the hope that other people he cares about will return again.

But the second part of Tony's text leads to a hesitation from Steve. Did he just-- does that mean--?]

What cure?

[This is the first he's heard about this. Is that why Bruce left the Tower? Is that why him and Tony aren't talking? If this is how it sounds, it's...definitely more of an answer than he's gotten yet.]

He didn't tell you?

[It was what weighed most heavily on his mind these days and he was basically the only one that knew?]

He decided that after what happened last time with the whole body switching, that it was too big of a risk despite the fact he's already proven that he does have control during

[It takes a long minute or two before he can bring himself say it.]

New York. Apparently some of the guys from the hospital are good with that sort of thing so he's decided to effectively chop off his arm.

[Tony was firmly in the camp of messing with the Hulk was akin to maiming himself.]

Edited 2013-05-21 00:37 (UTC)

I stopped by his office not long ago. He conveniently left that out.

[Not that he really tried to pry into what was going on with Bruce, but....still. It was something he would have liked to know.

At the same time, he can understand why Bruce might want to do this. While he had shown some control of the Hulk, it wasn't like he always had control and that put people in danger.

But Bruce was also part of the team, and a valuable asset. So...he could definitely see both sides.]

And they actually succeeded?

[Okay he never actually had it confirmed...]

I saw their plans and the theory was sound. A lot of it depended on technology that hadn't been invented yet, but they're a bit ahead of us which is why he needed their help. I wasn't going to do anything because as far as I can tell, there's nothing to fix.

Even if there isn't, it's his choice. Maybe you don't like it, but you have to respect his decision.

[Steve is...probably talking to himself because he doubts Tony will listen. But he's being honest. Maybe he doesn't necessarily agree with Bruce's means to do this, it's still his choice. If he wants to cure his Hulk problem, he should do it. It wasn't Steve's place to tell him what to do, and neither was it Tony's.]

[To be honest, Tony is only using the Hulk as an excuse for his reasons behind the fall out with Bruce. It's easiest and it doesn't make him look pathetic when he says Bruce only pretended to like him because of his resources. He really should have been used to that sort of thing, but he'd also gotten better at keeping people at a distance that when they worked their way in, they could do a lot of damage.]

If someone put a gun to their head in front of you, of course you'd do something about it!

[Sound like a familiar scenario brought up on the Helicarrier by Bruce?]

Suicide and curing the hulk are two different things, Tony.

[But if Bruce did try suicide again, of course Steve would try and stop him. Ending his own life wasn't the right thing to do. It was never the right thing to do, in any case, at least if you asked him.]

Not in this case. The Hulk is a part of him to do anything to that and it's tantamount to lobotomising yourself.

Maybe, but that's still his call.

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