Tony Stark and his Saiyan Sons

Chapter 23

As awareness slowly returns to Gohan, he tries to assess his condition.

Unsurprisingly, everything aches. His body hasn't been this banged up since he went through the portal that brought him here.

His eyes crack open and strain to adjust to the fluorescent lighting.

Gohan looks around the room he finds himself in. He spots Tony, slumped over, asleep in a chair next to his bed.

Krillin is sprawled out on a small couch at the edge of the room. Piccolo is sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed. He's floating a couple feet in the air near Krillin.

Gohan starts to chuckle, but it devolves into a coughing fit.

Tony's eyes snap open as he startles awake. He's quickly by Gohan's side, holding a bottle of water in his reach. 

"Easy, Kiddo, easy. Take it slow."  He tells him as he twists off the cap and hands him the water.

Gohan accepts the water and takes a few careful sips.

Krillin and Piccolo rush to Gohan's side as he moves to sit up.

"How are you feeling, Gohan?" Krillin asks. 

Gohan smiles. "I'm alright." Not thinking twice about dismissing his injuries.

"The broken ribs and concussion would beg to differ, Squirt." Tony lightly scolds, pretty worried about seeing Gohan have such a nonchalant attitude about his wellbeing, and wondering if this is what Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy felt all these years when he was reckless with or disregarded his own health.

Gohan turns to Tony and tries to assure him. "I'm ok, Dad. It has been a little while, but I've had much worse than this before. You know that."

Yep, he definitely owes it to his friends, Pepper, and their boys to try to never do this again, it feels horrible being on the other side of it.

Tony tries to smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Just because you have been through worse before, doesn't mean I'm gonna take you getting hurt like this lightly, Gohan." 

Gohan can see the worry in Tony's eyes and decides to stop insisting he's fine. "You're right, sorry, Dad."

Tony smirks and ruffles Gohan's hair. "No worries, Kiddo, it's not your fault."

Piccolo and Krillin just silently watch the exchange until Krillin decides to ask, "So Gohan, now that the imminent threat is gone, how about you bring us up to speed on what you've been doing since you got here?"

"Yes, it seems you've formed some strong bonds during the time it took us to get here." Piccolo adds, hoping the additional push will get Gohan to explain why he's calling someone other than Goku dad.

Gohan nods, having a pretty good idea what has his friends curious. "I'll tell you everything, but before that, is everyone ok? Where are Bruce, Trunks, and Vegeta?"

"Everyone is fine, Gohan." Krillin confirms.

"Yeah, Bruce and the others have been treated, though they're all still out of it." Tony explains. 

Gohan sighs in relief, then asks, "Where are we? And how long was I out?"

Before anyone can answer, the door to the room opens, and a couple of familiar faces come inside.

"Mr. Coulson, Bulma!" Gohan excitedly greets.

Coulson nods to Gohan while Bulma comes closer to the bed. "It's great to see you alive and relatively well, Gohan."

Gohan smirks. "It's good to see you too, Bulma." 

Coulson moves to the end of the bed and explains, "I couldn't help but overhear your last question, Gohan. We're in an emergency shelter near the facility that band of alien intruders destroyed. You and your friends have been resting here for a few hours."

Gohan nods and Tony motions for Coulson to continue.

"Unfortunately, those invaders were somehow able to transport Blonsky away from here before your team could arrive. So even though the main threat has been dealt with, we've still got a major problem out there."

"Why would they take Blonsky anyway?" Gohan wonders aloud.

Tony shrugs and offers a theory. "I can't be certain since the surveillance was taken out before they did whatever it is they did with him, but I'm guessing our mystery enemy has him now."

"You think 'B' was responsible for this?" Gohan asks.

"That's the only explanation I could come up with. I mean, there's no way that Bojack was 'B', so I'm guessing he and his flunkies were working for him."

Gohan's face falls, realizing Tony's probably right, but also that if it's true, 'B' is more dangerous than he originally thought, and it also raises a terrifying possibility about their origin. "Yeah, I bet you're right about that. Bojack wasn't the type to play the kind of games 'B' has so far."

"Who's this 'B' you keep talking about?" Bulma asks.

Tony and Gohan explain what they know about this enemy and everything they've done so far that they're aware of.

"If it's someone from this Earth, how could they control beings as powerful as Bojack?" Piccolo asks.

Tony notices Gohan's face fall at that question. He puts his hand on his shoulder and asks, "What's on your mind, Kiddo?"

Gohan hesitantly looks at Tony, and voices his theory. "I don't think 'B' is from this Earth, or this universe. I think they're from the universe I came from."

Tony blinks at that. "What makes you think that?"

"It's just a hunch. But Bojack's appearance here made me wonder. What if the portal Broly and I opened during our fight didn't bring just me and Goten here? Who's to say others weren't brought here as well? How else could Bojack and his minions end up here from King Kai's planet? Maybe more than one portal opened up that day and brought others to this world too."

Piccolo nods in agreement with Gohan's theory. "If that's the case, then it'll be nearly impossible to find out if anymore dangerous beings ended up here." 

Gohan's expression mirrors one Tony has seen in himself a lot since finding out what his weapons did to innocent people.

He has a pretty good idea what the boy is thinking, so he tells him, "Even if that's true, none of it is your fault, Gohan. You know that, right?"

Gohan doesn't really believe that, and the lives that were lost today, courtesy of Bojack, and the lives that can be lost in the future because of monsters he brought to this Earth are weighing heavily on his mind.

Despite how terrible he feels about that, he also can't regret ending up here. He forces a smile and nods. "Yeah, I know."

Tony can immediately tell Gohan is just saying that, but he drops the subject for now and asks the group, "So now that the evildoers have been vanquished and our heroes are on the mend, what's next?"

Gohan chuckles, and Coulson smirks at Tony's quip/question while Bulma suggests, "Well, since senzu beans aren't an option right now, I figured we could go back to our Earth and get Dende to come heal everyone that was injured during the attack. Then we can try to find out more about this 'B' and if they were responsible for the disappearance of that awol inmate of yours."

Her proposal gets a smile out of Gohan. "It would be great to see Dende again."

Krillin smiles and says, "He'll definitely be happy to see you too. He was really worried about you and Goten...we all were."

Gohan turns back to Krillin. "I'm sorry I worried everyone."

Bulma shakes her head. "It's alright, Gohan. The whole situation gave us all a scare, but now it's over and you and Goten can finally come back home."

At the mention of Gohan going back, he and Tony both wince.

While Gohan begins racking his brain trying to think of the best way to tell his oldest friends that he plans to stay here, Tony is wondering if Gohan will choose to go back to where he came from now that he has the option.

Piccolo notices both of their reactions, but before he can say anything, Bulma claps her hands together. "Ok, Piccolo, let's go to the lookout and get Dende. You're probably the only one who'll be able to convince Mr. Popo that our Earth will be fine without its Guardian for an hour or 2."

Not even waiting for a response, Bulma grabs Piccolo by his cape and begins dragging him out of the the room.

Piccolo is so caught off guard, he momentarily forgets to question Gohan, and follows Bulma out of the room.

Gohan and Krillin chuckle a bit at the display. Tony normally would have too, but he's still lost in thought.

Gohan notices Tony's lack of reaction. "Dad, are you ok?"

Tony startles a bit. "Yeah...yeah. I'm good, just thinking."

"About what?"

Tony can't bring himself to tell Gohan he's worried about the boys going back to their original home.

Knowing Gohan, if the boy knew his worry, he wouldn't go, even if he desperately wanted to, just to keep from upsetting him. So he quickly comes up with a white lie. "I was just thinking I should go update Pepper and Happy on the situation, maybe bring them and Goten here to meet everybody."

Gohan pauses at Tony's momentary hesitancy, but smiles at his suggestion. "That sounds great. And once Dende heals everyone, I can show you guys around my old home."

Wanting to be supportive despite his worry, Tony smirks. "Sounds fun, Little Man." 

Tony stands and puts a hand on Gohan's shoulder. "I'm gonna go give Pep a call, let her know I'm on my way to get her, Happy, and Goten."

Gohan nods and shifts to get out of bed. "Alright, I'll come with."

Tony gently pushes him to lay back down. "Nope, you're gonna rest up until your buddy comes over and fixes you up. I'll go get them and be back in a bit."

Gohan tries to protest, but Tony cuts him off. "No dice, Kid. You chill here and catch up with your friends, I'll be back with everyone soon."

Curious to ask about Gohan's relationship with Tony, Krillin tells him, "He's right, Gohan. Let's just hang out and catch up while the others get everyone here."

Gohan nods and lays back down. "Ok, I'll wait."

Tony smiles down at Gohan. "Atta boy. I'll be back before you know it."

"I know your armor was heavily damaged in the battle. I can lend you a jet if you'd like." Coulson offers.

Tony nods to Coulson as he pulls out his phone and dials Pepper's number. "Much appreciated, Agent."

Coulson leads Tony out of the room, closing the door behind them, leaving Gohan and Krillin alone.

"Seems you've made some good friends here." Krillin tells Gohan.

Gohan smiles. "Yeah, Goten and I were lucky to meet them when we ended up here."

Krillin can't think of a way to ask Gohan about why he calls Tony dad, so he just decides to ask, "So what have you been up to since being brought here?"

Gohan chuckles. "It's a long story."

As Gohan fills Krillin in on all that's happened in the near 10 months since coming to this world, Tony lets Pepper know he's on his way, takes Coulson up on his offer to borrow a jet, and flies back to the vacation spot his family was enjoying earlier in the day.

He lands as close to the island home as he can, and as he disembarks from the jet, he spots Pepper with Goten in her arms running toward him with Happy trudging along behind her.

Pepper practically crashes into Tony. She quickly shifts Goten to one arm so she can hug Tony with the other. "Tony, what happened?! Where's Gohan?!" 

Tony hugs Pepper back and assures her, "Gohan's ok, Pep. He and Bruce got banged up during the fight, but they're resting comfortably at a SHIELD shelter now."

Before Pepper can ask any follow up questions, Goten starts grabbing at Tony. "Dada!"

Tony chuckles and takes Goten into his arms.

Goten begins babbling and appears to be on the verge of tears. "Dada...Bubba...Bwu...badbad."

"Shh, hey. Hey. We're all ok, Monkey, I promise." Tony tries to reassure while rubbing circles on the baby's back.

"If Gohan got banged up, these guys must have been tough." Happy comments.

"How bad is it?" Pepper asks, needing to know the extent of her kid's injuries so she'll stop imagining the worst case scenario.

Tony looks back at them and says, "They were ridiculously tough. Gohan's got some broken ribs and a concussion."

Pepper gasps and Tony rushes to assure her, "He'll be better in no time, Pep, I swear." 

"What do you mean? Those are serious injuries that'll take time to heal."

"Yeah, unless the kid's had one of those magic beans from his old home in his back pocket all this time." Happy jokes.

"Actually, we've got the next best thing." Tony tells them, trying to sound upbeat.

Pepper and Happy both raise a brow, but before either can ask anything, Tony tells them, "I'll explain on the way. Come on, let's head back, Gohan's waiting for us.

Pepper and Happy both nod. They rush back inside the house to grab some supplies, then quickly load up into the jet, and take off.

Tony has JARVIS take over piloting the jet and gives Pepper and Happy the play by play on everything that happened in the battle, though he leaves out Bojack nearly killing Gohan.

While Pepper and Happy process everything, Tony withdraws into himself as his mind unhelpfully replays the sound of Gohan's anguished screams as Bojack was crushing his back on a loop that'll definitely be haunting his nightmares for the foreseeable future. 

Goten, who refused to leave Tony's arms since the man returned seems to notice his distress and starts trying to get his attention. "Dada."

Tony snaps out of his haze when he feels tiny hands pawing at his face.

He looks down at Goten, pats his back, and smiles. "I'm ok, Monkey."

Goten smiles up at Tony while Pepper speaks up, "So Gohan's friends from his original home found a way to get here."

Tony tries to shove his mixed feelings on that subject to the back of his mind and nods. "Yeah, that Bulma is brilliant. Though she had divine help from those Kais, so I wont let the fact she pulled it off when I couldn't bruise my ego too much."

Even though Pepper and Happy both see through Tony's deflection, they chuckle at his quip. They're also working out how they feel about this.

They spend the rest of the flight in semi-comfortable silence until JARVIS alerts them to they're arrival and lands the jet.

They disembark and Tony leads them back to where Gohan is resting.

As soon as they enter the room, Pepper rushes to Gohan's bedside. "Oh Gohan, how are you feeling? Are you in any pain?"

Gohan lets Pepper fuss over him for a bit before saying, "I'm alright, Mom. And I'll be back to 100% soon. Bulma and Piccolo brought Dende over. Once he's finished healing the injured agents, he'll heal me, Bruce, Trunks, and Vegeta."

Tony walks over and stands next to Pepper. "That's good to hear, Kiddo."

As soon as Tony gets close enough to the bed, Goten starts squirming in his arms and reaches for Gohan. "Bubba!"

Pepper and Tony laugh as Tony places Goten on the bed.

Goten crawls into Gohan's lap and looks up at him. "Bubba owie?"

Gohan smiles down at his brother, wraps an arm around him, and tells him, "Yeah, it was a big owie, but I'll be ok."

Goten seems to accept that answer and gets himself comfortably situated in Gohan's lap.

Gohan chuckles at his brother's antics, then chats with his parents and Happy until Krillin comes back to the room with Dende in tow.

"Gohan!" The young Namekian cries as he runs across the room, unable to contain his excitement at seeing his friend after so long.

"Dende!" Gohan happily greets his friend, feeling a similar joy, the only thing that stopped him from jumping out of the bed was a warning stare from Pepper when he tried.

Dende immediately gets to work healing Gohan, and once the glow from his hands fade, Gohan removes the bandages wrapped around his head and the bind around his chest.

"Are you all better now?" Pepper asks, even though she's seen Dende's abilities in action in Gohan's memory recordings, she won't stop worrying until she knows for sure.

To answer her, Gohan moves Goten off his lap, jumps out of the bed, and does some practice punches and kicks while in midair.

Tony chuckles. "I think that's a yes." Seeing Gohan fully recovered eases some of the guilt he can't seem to shake.

Gohan stops and nods. "Yep, I'm all better now. Thanks a lot, Dende."

"You're welcome, Gohan." Dende replies. "I already healed Trunks, Vegeta, your other friend, and all of the other injured people."

"That's great." Gohan responds.

"We really appreciate it, Green Bean." Tony tells Dende.

Pepper elbows Tony in the side while Dende tilts his head in confusion at the nickname "Um...no problem, sir."

"Oh thats right, this is your first time meeting." Gohan realizes, so he quickly introduces them. "Dende, meet Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, and Happy Hogan."

Dende bows his head. "It's nice to meet you all."

Tony, Pepper, and Happy all return the greeting, then Krillin tells everyone, "If you're all ready, Bulma, Piccolo, Trunks, Vegeta, and your other friend are waiting for us."

Gohan picks Goten up from the bed and tells Krillin, "Sure, lead the way."

Everyone follows Krillin out of the room and into a lab.

Gohan spots Bruce chatting with Bulma and Trunks and heads toward them.

Bruce spots Gohan, Tony, and the others approaching and greets them. "Glad to see you all back on your feet."

"Back at you, Brucie-bear." Tony replies as he claps Bruce on the shoulder.

Just like when he first saw Tony and Gohan again, Goten begins squirming in Gohan's arms and reaching for Bruce. "Bwu!"

Bruce looks down at Goten and smiles. "Hey, Buddy."

Goten keeps reaching for Bruce while the man stares in confusion.

Tony tries to keep the amusement out of his tone as he tells Bruce, "I don't think he's gonna be satisfied until you pick him up so he can give you a checkup."

Bruce raises an eyebrow but can't suppress a chuckle, knowing that it's best to just go along with it.

He knows deep down that Hulk wouldn't hurt the baby, but he still hesitates a bit before lifting him into his arms.

Goten begins patting at Bruce's face. "Bwu?"

Bruce gives Goten a warm smile. "I'm all better, Little One."

Goten smiles back, then places a hand on Bruce's forehead. "Huk?"

Bruce feels Hulk's presence flare up in the back of his mind for a moment.

Goten giggles and Bruce shifts him to one arm and perches him on his hip. "Hulk's ok too."

Bulma approaches the group and offers her hand to Tony. "Now that everyone's healed, I can finally do some shop talk with you, Mr. Stark. I was examining the remains of your armor from the fight, it's impressive to say the least."

Tony smirks and shakes her hand. "Thank you, though from what I know about you from Gohan, you're quite the engineer yourself, Ms. Briefs. Those capsules of yours have been a godsend."

Before they can delve into a deeper discussion, Vegeta seems to finally lose his patience. "Enough of this drivel! We found Kakarot's brats, let's get out of here already!"

Tony rolls his eyes and does an over exaggerated bow. "My sincerest apologies, your majesty, not a fan of intelligent conversation I see."

Everyone, even Trunks and Piccolo crack up at that, much to Vegeta's annoyance.

"Don't test me, Earthling!" Vegeta warns Tony.

"Oh lighten up, Vegeta, he's just kidding. " Bulma tries to soothe.

"Of course." Tony says before turning back to Bruce and Gohan and rolling his eyes, getting another chuckle out of the boy.

Vegeta just grumbles to himself a bit before Piccolo speaks up. "We should head back soon, return Dende to the Lookout."

Bulma nods and pulls a gun shaped device out of her pocket. "Yeah, Mr. Popo is probably getting anxious for Dende to return, we can come back here whenever needed."

She aims the gun at a wall and fires it.

A hole just like the one Tony saw the boy's fall out of opens up and just floats there.

Vegeta immediately walks into to it and disappears.

Piccolo leads Dende over to it and they both vanish as well.

Trunks waves at the remaining group, then goes into the portal.

"Are you ready to come home, Gohan?" Bulma asks.

Tony, Pepper, Happy, and Bruce all look at Gohan to see how he answers.

Gohan notices their stares and realizes what they might be wondering about.

He quickly links himself to them and telepathically assures, 'As long as you're all willing to have Goten and me, this is our home now.'

Bruce and Happy smirk, while Tony and Pepper try their hardest to keep their shoulders from sagging in relief, wanting to avoid outwardly reacting. 

'Kiddo, you don't even have to ask.' Tony tells him.

'That's right, Gohan.' Pepper confirms before asking, 'When are you gonna tell them?'

'I'll explain it to Grandpa separately, then I'll tell the others after.' Gohan replies, then answers Bulma aloud, "Yeah, let's go."

Bulma smiles, then asks the rest of the group, "Would you like to come along?"

Happy elects to stay behind so he can let Rhodey know everything that's happened while Tony, Pepper, and Bruce go with Gohan.

Bulma hands Happy an oval shaped device with the Capsule Corp logo on it, telling him it's a beacon he can use to trigger an alarm inside the portal gun if needed, that will also act as their return point when coming back.

Happy waves goodbye to the group while Bulma and Krillin lead Gohan with Goten in his arms, Tony, Pepper, and Bruce through the portal.

While Gohan is excited to see his Grandpa and the rest of his old friends after so long, as they step into the portal he's also worried how they'll take his decision.

As the familiar view of the Lookout appears before his eyes, Gohan ponders to himself, 'What's the worst that can happen?'