Tony Stark and his Saiyan Sons

Chapter 17

Everyone disembarks from the jet, load up into the car Tony called over, and head to a hotel he usually goes to when he wants to avoid the press while visiting New York.

Tony gets them all checked in, and after getting two master key cards –one for himself and the boys and one for Bruce and Betty– he pockets them and leads everyone to an elevator.

"Are you sure no one will be able to trace these rooms back to us?" Bruce asks as they ride the elevator to their floor.

Tony claps Bruce on the back. "Don't worry about it, I always use this place when I want to come to New York anonymously. No one, including Ross can trace this place back to us. Plus, with these disguises Pep packed in the jet for us, we won't be recognized."

"Do hats and glasses really count as disguises?" Betty asks, slightly amused at Gohan and Goten's clear disdain for wearing the hats.

"It is annoying to keep our hair contained in hats, but this fools more people than you'd think. This is what we always do when we need to go out in public." Gohan explains while alternating between scratching his head and keeping Goten from taking his hat off with his free hand.

"Exactly, the Clark Kent method is surprisingly effective." Tony adds.

"I can attest to that." Bruce chimes in with his own experience.

The elevator comes to a stop and everyone steps onto their floor.

Tony reaches into his pocket, pulls out the key cards, and offers one to Bruce. "This entire floor is vacant, except for us. These are master keys, so you can pick any room you'd like."

Bruce takes one of the key cards. "I understand staying on a vacant floor, but why not stay in adjoining rooms?"

Tony smirks and whispers behind his hand so only Bruce and Betty hear. "Just incase you 2 want to have some alone time that you don't want the young ears to hear."

He gives them a suggestive wink and wiggles his eyebrows.

The couple both go red in the face. Betty glares at Tony, grabs Bruce's arm, and drags him to a room at the end of the hallway, muttering under her breath, "Incorrigible."

Tony chuckles as he leads Gohan to a room on the opposite end of the hall, just incase Bruce and Betty take him up on his offer.

As they enter their room, Gohan asks, "What did you say that got her so upset?"

Tony tosses his stuff on one of the beds and in a deadpan tone, says, "I'll tell you when you're older."

Gohan sighs in exasperation, takes his hat off, places it on a nightstand, and sits Goten down on the other bed, leaving the infant to take his hat off while the boy gets dressed in his sleep clothes.

Tony watches in amusement as Goten tries to tear his hat apart for a bit before stepping in.

He picks the baby up and sits back down on his bed. "I think the hat's had enough, Monkey."

Goten reaches up, yanks Tony's hat right off his head, tosses it across the room, and shouts, "Bad!" 

Tony bursts out laughing and has to catch his breath before he assures, "Message received, Little Buddy. No more hats for now, Monkey, it's bedtime."

While Goten puts up a fuss at the mention of bedtime, Tony looks over at Gohan and sees the dread in his boy's expression. "Are you ok, Kiddo?"

"Uh...yeah, I'm good." Gohan tries to reassure, hoping to hide his worry of more nightmares or his power going wild in his sleep again.

Tony can instantly tell that's not true and is certain what's got the boy so stressed out.

Remembering something the original Jarvis used to do for him when he was an ankle biter and suffering from nightmares or having trouble sleeping, Tony pulls down the covers on his bed, positions himself in the center, sits against the headboard, lays Goten on one side of him, and pats the free spot on the other side of him. "C'mere Squirt."

Gohan tilts his head in confusion, but he complies and sits next to Tony.

Tony gestures for Gohan to lay down, and when he does, Tony pulls the the covers over him and Goten, then starts running his fingers across the top of the boy's head.

It feels nice and is surprisingly comforting, but Gohan can't help but ask, "What are you doing?"

Tony keeps it up, and starts doing the same to Goten with his other hand while he explains, "When I was little and having trouble with nightmares, my family's butler, Edwin Jarvis, who was more of a father to me than my actual dad, would lay down with me and rub my head like this until I fell asleep. It never failed to make me feel better and stop the nightmares."

Gohan starts feeling drowsy and notices that Goten is already out cold. "Edwin Jarvis? That's where you got the name for JARVIS."

Tony lowers himself into a more comfortable position as he continues threading his fingers through the boys' hair. "Yeah...one of the many reasons I made JARVIS was to help me take care of myself when I forget to, so it just made sense to base him off the first person who did that, especially since the original was pretty good at it."

Gohan chuckles and his eyes start to close on their own. "Is JARVIS a lot like him?"

"In some ways. He was always good to banter with. He kept me fed, hydrated...and there was never a more patient or kinder man." Tony answers while fondly reminiscing about the man who more or less raised him up until his passing.

"I wish I could have met him." Gohan mumbles before completely drifting off to sleep.

Tony smiles at that thought, keeps rubbing both boys' heads for a little bit longer, and fully lays down himself. "Yeah, he would've loved both of you."

Confirming that both boys are now asleep, Tony internally debates getting up and moving to the other bed. Though before he can try, Goten grabs a fistful of his shirt and he knows he's not going anywhere now, so he just wraps an arm around each of his boys and falls into a peaceful asleep.

Tony's dragged back to awareness by a series of beeping and flashes followed by poorly muffled laughter.

He cracks an eye open and sees Betty standing near the bed, wearing a shit-eating grin, and pointing a camera in his direction while Bruce is standing further back in the room behind her with a shy smile. "What are you doing?"

Betty just laughs and snaps one more picture. "Oh, just a little blackmail. I couldn't resist, you 3 are so cute all cuddled up like that."

Tony sits up, mindful of the boys as he moved. He rubs at his eyes and lets out a yawn. "You and Pepper will make a dangerous team someday, but I need some coffee before I contemplate that any further. So if you wouldn't mind."

Tony drags himself out of bed to get some of his precious lifeblood.

"I've got you covered." Bruce says as he walks over to Tony and hands him a steaming cup.

Tony takes it and guzzles some of the drink down. "Bruce, you're my hero." He says in thanks before continuing to down the coffee.

Bruce chuckles and takes a small sip of his own coffee. "My pleasure."

After finishing his morning beverage in a few quick gulps, Tony puts a hand on Gohan's shoulder and lightly shakes him. "Up and at 'em, Little Man. It's almost time to head out."

Gohan comes to and looks up at Tony. "Is everything ok? I didn't power up in my sleep again did I?"

Tony ruffles his hair. "Nah, everything's fine. We just need to head out soon."

Gohan laughs in relief and fixes his hair. "Alright, sounds good."

After also waking Goten up, giving Bruce and Betty quite a shock when they saw the infant's tail, which Tony and Gohan promise will be explained, they all have a quick breakfast, and get ready for the rendezvous.

Gohan puts his visor and hat on, and turns Super Saiyan. Tony puts his sunglasses and a cap on, buckles Goten back into the Iron Baby Sling, seals it up, and has Gohan put it on.

With a final nod to each other, they all head out to meet with Mr. Blue.

They arrive outside the University Science Building lobby and watch their guess on who Mr. Blue is exit the building.

They decide to have Betty approach him alone first. "Excuse me, Dr. Sterns?"

The man turns to face her "Yes."

"Sorry to bother you. I’m Elizabeth Ross."

Sterns' eyes widen in recognition. "Dr. Ross, my goodness...I read your wonderful paper on synthesizing nucleotides!! To what do I owe the..."

Betty turns back and gestures for Bruce, Tony, and Gohan to come over. "There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to..."

"Mr. Blue, I presume." Bruce says in greeting.

"Mr. Green!" Sterns gasps.

Bruce nods in confirmation.

Noticing the other 2 in the group, Sterns asks, "And who are your friends?"

Tony removes his sunglasses and Gohan takes off his hat for a moment to identify themselves.

"Oh my God! Tony Stark and the 'Blond Berserker Boy'!" Sterns exclaims.

Gohan flinches at that name while Tony puts his sunglasses back on and shushes the man. "First off, don't call him that. Second, how about we take this somewhere else before one of us gets recognized?"

Sterns nods. "Uh...sure, follow me." 

He leads them all to his lab.

It has a bit of the ‘Mad Scientist’ clutter to it. Tony and Gohan examine the equipment while Sterns speaks very quickly. "...it took some work, let me tell you, we’ve never tried to concentrate the trimethodine a tenth of what your peak exposure correlates with. That you survived an event like that to stand here and discuss this...it has something to do with Dr. Ross’s protein primer capacitating the cells of course, but it’s beyond my reckoning...we could study it for years."

"But you think you’ve got the concentration right?" Betty asks.

"Well, yes...on paper anyway. And my cell saturation will make sure we don’t miss any spots...but...even if we hit the levels right, I can’t promise this will cure you. It might only be an antidote to suppress the specific flare up."

Sterns turns to Bruce and asks, "When you have one of these 'spikes'...is the experience extreme?"

"You might say that." Bruce answers with a wry smirk.

"Well I can’t wait to see it! You know I must say...I wondered if you were real. And if you were I wondered what it would look like...a person with that much power lurking in him. Nothing could have surprised me more than this unassuming man shaking my hand!" Sterns excitedly rambles.

He hesitates for a moment before explaining, "I’d be remiss however if I didn’t point out that these concentrations carry extraordinary levels of toxicity. If we’re over by even a small integer, the residual could kill you, will kill you."

Bruce nods in understanding and adds, "There’s a flip side to that...if we miss on the low side...if we induce me and it fails...it will be very dangerous for you."

Sterns smiles and says, "I’ve always been more curious than cautious. It’s served me well so far, but if that’s what kills this cat in the end...well at least I’ll have peeked around a few corners."

"Even if that scenario plays out, I'll be here to contain you if you go wild. No one will get hurt." Gohan says, hoping to reassure everyone.

Sterns nods and asks Gohan, "That reminds me, did you also suffer from sort of accident? Is that how you attained the strength to overpower Bruce in that form? After we take care of this would you mind if I ran some tests on you?"

Before Gohan can respond, Tony says, "How about we just focus on the current project here? Alright?"

Sterns raises his hands in surrender. "Fair enough. So then, we’re all agreed?"

They all nod.

Sterns smiles. "Then Into the Glorious Unknown we go!"

-Military Base-

Ross’ forces mobilize. A Sikorsky winding up its jets.

Blonsky stands alone, staring at himself in the mirror, studying his own face. Something is changing in him. His shoulders and neck seem to have grown massive literally overnight.

As he studies his body and face, something very strange is happening to the bones in his spine. They have become too big, almost simian, protruding from between his enlarged back muscles in a disturbing way.

Blonsky loads in with other special forces soldiers. There are three two-man sniper teams with special thermal scopes and rifles against one wall.

Blonsky sits against the wall next to a familiar face, a soldier who was in the campus fight with him.

The soldier asks him, "How you feeling, man?"

"Like a monster." Blonsky grunts aggressively and flexes his arm. His arm muscle tears his sleeve a little. The other soldier shoots a look around.

Cabot and Ross come back to the rear to brief the team. She has copies of blueprints of the layout of Sterns' building and the surrounding buildings.

Blonsky calls out to Cabot, "Back on the Hulk Hunt, Major..."

Cabot pays him no mind. "Banner and that super kid who was tagging along with Stark are the targets. Snipers have the point. Delta in backup. If we make it before they move, we’ll have two tries. If we can’t take them inside, we’ll try for a shot as they exit. If we can’t hit them unaware before they make the street, then plainclothes will try to follow and we stand down. Under no circumstances are Banner or the boy to be engaged directly. If we can’t get a shot, we fall back and let them go."

Blonsky asks, "And if Banner goes nuclear?"

Ross says, "Then we’ll have failed to learn from our mistakes, won’t we? You’ve got the compact sonics. Try to at least move him out of the city center toward the river. Then disengage. We’ll follow from the air but not fight. Any questions?"

Blonsky scoffs. "Not much of a rematch."

Cabot shoots him a glare. "1.5 Million people within a five mile radius. You want to fight that thing here?"

Cabot steps to the front of the cabin and sits near Ross. "You sure about your guy?"

Ross tells her, "I need a dog in the hunt that’s not going to run from a bear if it shows up. If we do this right, I’ll never have to let him off the leash."

-Sterns' lab-

Sterns, Tony, Gohan, and Betty make the preparations to 'treat' Bruce. There's a table that looks disturbingly like a set-up for a lethal injection and has a little bit of a Frankenstein vibe too, which Tony points out.

Bruce strips to his lycra shorts and gives his clothes to Betty.

"Think of all the money I’ll save on wardrobe if this works." Bruce jokes before telling Betty, "If this starts to go bad, promise me you won’t stay and try to help me."

"Bruce..." Betty starts to protest, but Bruce interrupts, "It’s the worst when it starts. You have to promise me you’ll run or I can’t do this." 

Betty reluctantly nods, then Bruce turns to Tony and Gohan. "If things go bad, please make sure she's safe."

Tony and Gohan both nod and Tony assures, "Don't worry, at the first sign of an out of control Hulk, I'll get her out of the danger zone."

"And I'll be on standby to keep you contained or knock you out if necessary." Gohan adds.

Bruce nods in thanks and Sterns gestures to the nylon medical restraints. "If you have a strong reaction these will keep you from hurting yourself."

Bruce lets out a weak chuckle. "If I have a strong reaction, you’re not going to need to worry about me."

Bruce climbs onto the table. Sterns tilts it back so that Bruce is still at a slight angle and begins to strap him in.

Sterns puts an I.V. in each of Banner’s arms and legs linked to the Cell Saturation Machine, which he primes a canister with the antidote and some sort of futuristic spinner or plunger to send it through his body. Then he puts contact pads connected to electrical wires on Bruce’s temples. And finally, a plastic bite suppressor for Bruce’s mouth.

"Ready?" Sterns asks.

Bruce gives the go ahead and Sterns jolts him with electricity, a lot of it. When it hits him, Bruce's whole body spasms, every muscle in his body straining against the straps, eyes clenched and then snapping open, glowing green.

A pulse of green in the base of his skull sends green gamma energy shooting through his body, his skin floods with color from top to bottom, spreading from the base of his skull as the gamma energy shoots out of his brain.

"My God...!" Sterns says in awe.

Betty tells him, "There’s more. Wait for it!"

They all see the full agony of the transformation as Bruce’s body starts to swell, stretch, and harden.

Tony and Gohan can almost feel the trauma of it on his bones and muscles. Sterns is staggered. Betty watches the man she loves be tortured in front of her, he howls in agony. Sterns steps closer...too close.

The restraints pop like rubber bands, one of them striking Sterns, who gets knocked back and dazed. The Hulk is appearing on the table, still in spasms.

"Now! Do it!" Betty shouts at Sterns.

The table starts to buckle under the weight as Hulk continues to grow. Gohan gets ready to act if needed and Tony moves over to Betty incase he has to evacuate her fast.

Hulk is going to lift his head up and get seriously angry any second...but then Betty jumps onto the table over him, leaning on that massive torso, looking for his eyes.

"BRUCE, STAY WITH ME!" Betty shouts.

Bruce/Hulk howls.

"Do it NOW!!!" Betty screams at Sterns.

Sterns hits the button and the antidote starts to flow into him.

Slowly, painfully, the process starts to reverse. They all can almost see the fluid moving through those massive veins, finding its way into every corner, and calming the radiation fire in his blood.

He shrinks...finally, Bruce is back, lying on the buckled table with Betty kneeling over him. She strokes his forehead. He’s drenched in sweat, wrung out like a marathoner.

"It’s alright. You’re alright. It’s over." Betty assures Bruce.

-Outside Sterns' Lab-

Helicopters are landing. Snipers and Blonsky’s team hit the ground running. Cabot and Ross move with the mobile communications team right behind them. All heading into waiting unmarked vans on 110th ST.

-Inside Sterns' Lab-

They’re all debriefing, and Sterns is talking a mile a minute.

"...the pulse came from the amygdala. I think Dr. Ross' 'primer' lets the cells absorb the energy temporarily and then it abates. That's why you didn’t die of radiation sickness years ago. Now maybe we’ve neutralized those cells permanently or maybe we just suppressed that event. I’m inclined to think the latter because none of our test subjects had a decline in absorption capacity, but of course they were getting Gamma in MUCH lower doses externally each time...But You! It’s like you’ve got a turbo booster in your brain. It’s one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever seen!"

"It’s not wonderful for Bruce." Betty says, irritated at Sterns' excitement about what just happened.

"In a medical science sense, of course. You’re miraculous." Sterns clarifies.

"So how did you know it would work?" Betty asks.

"I didn’t, but now that we have the data on Bruce’s initial–" Sterns starts to answer but Bruce interrupts him. "Wait. You said 'test subjects'. What test subjects?"

"Yeah that's what I was wondering." Tony adds.

Sterns gestures them to follow him and he leads them to door.

-Outside-

On the surrounding rooftops, sniper teams take positions around Sterns' lab. Each team with one shooter and one spotter with a thermal scanner.

Scanners springing on line. A thermal image of Betty, Bruce, Tony, Gohan, and Sterns shows them moving from one part of the lab into another.

Cabot informs over their radio. "Targets are the tallest in the middle and the shortest one.

Inside the building, Blonsky and his team move into positions in the lobby. 

-Inside Sterns' lab-

Sterns leads everyone to the other room in his lab, and to their horror, they see mutated animals. Rats, rheesus monkeys, some normal, others slightly Hulked-out versions of themselves...none Green, they are more gray.

"Red flag." Tony declares.

"Oh my God...what have you been doing?" Bruce asks Sterns.

Oblivious to everyone else's disgust, Sterns happily explains, "Well you didn’t send me much of your blood to work with and I couldn’t risk blowing the opportunity, so I concentrated it and made more."

Bruce is looking around in horror, his worst nightmare is coming true before his eyes. He has been replicated.

"A lot of the first ones didn’t survive of course, but as you can see, we’re doing much better. And we’re only giving them very low-dose Gamma, so no power-lifters yet, but the interesting thing..." Sterns starts to explain, but Bruce cuts him off. "You’ve got to destroy all of it."

"Sorry, what?" Sterns asks.

"Destroy all of it. Right now. Show me your supply." Bruce demands.

"You must be joking. We’ll share a Nobel for this, Think of the applications." Sterns argues.

"It doesn’t matter if it can’t be controlled...You don’t know the power of what we’re dealing with here!" Bruce shouts.

"But we’ve got the antidote now!" Sterns tries.

-Blonsky-

While listening to Cabot and the snipers talk about lining up their shots, Blonsky loses his patience and bolts to the stairs.

"Blonsky’s going in...he’s going in!" One of the soldiers shouts over the radio.

"Blonsky! Stand down!" Ross orders.

Blonsky ignores him and takes entire flights of stairs in a few jumps. He goes up eight stories in seconds.

-Inside the lab-

"They don’t want the antidote! They want a weapon. They want it to fight for them and if they get it, then we lose control of it!" Bruce tries to get through Sterns' thick skull.

"Seriously, man, you don't want this kinda thing getting into the wrong hands. Especially General Ross'." Tony adds.

Sterns rolls his eyes. "I hate the government too, but you’re being a little paranoid don’t you th–?"

Having been distracted by the argument, Gohan doesn't notice the hostile presences surrounding them until-CRUNCH! The sound of something fast going through glass alerts him.

"Guys, we're surroun-" Gohan tries to inform everyone, but one of the things that broke through the window lands in front of him and explodes into a gas.

Even with the filter in his mask, he inhales some of it, immediately causing him to drop out of Super Saiyan and a familiar fatigue to run through his entire body.

"Im...poss...ible." Gohan mutters before dropping to the ground, paralyzed.

"Kid!" Tony shouts in worry as he rushes to Gohan's side.

"What's hap-" Betty starts to say but notices the funny look on Bruce’s face. When he turns she sees a tranq dart in the back of his neck.

Sterns screams and backs away from the window. Bruce's eyes widen, his pulse monitor starts going wild, and he shouts at Betty, "Get out of here now!" 

Bruce's knees buckle and Betty rushes over to catch him.

Blonsky explodes through the door, rifle raised.

Betty moves in front of Bruce.

Tony reaches into his pocket for his capsuled armor, but stops when he hears Gohan's voice in his head. 'Don't do it! There's something unstable about this guy! Don't do anything to draw his attention!'

Tony clenches his hands in frustration but complies with his son's request.

Blonsky shoves Betty out of the way too hard, his strength abnormal, and she is knocked a few feet away before hitting the floor on her arm. She crys out in pain.

Bruce's eyes are livid...but hazy, struggling to focus. Blonsky looks at him, his eyes boring into Bruce's.

"Come on! COME ON!! WHERE IS IT?!" He shouts at Bruce.

Other soldiers burst through the lab door.

"BLONSKY!!!" One of them shouts.

Blonsky cracks Bruce in the head with the butt of his gun, knocking him out.

Some of the soldiers approach Gohan but Tony gets between them.

"Stand aside, sir, we're taking the boy into custody for interrogation." One of the soldiers tells Tony. 

"Sorry, soldier boy, but unless you put a bullet in my head, I'm not leaving the kid's side." Tony stubbornly replies.

"You either hand him over, or you're both coming with us."

Tony quickly scans the room and assesses the situation. With Bruce unconscious and being carted away along with Betty, and that Blonsky guy looking ready to attack at the slightest provocation while Gohan is incapacitated and defenseless, he figures that there's only one way to make sure they all stick together without everything within a few mile radius being leveled in a fight.

So Tony comes to a decision and raises his hands over his head. "Alright, you got us."