Title: When Fondue Changes the World
Author: Little Angel
Pairings: none
Disclaimer: I own nothing! NOTHING!
Summary: There is more to Captain America than most people understand, and a history slightly darker than they can believe. Fondue is the beginning and an end for lives to be changed. (Mentions of dark themes; implied non-con). CHAPTER 2: Bruce and Steve have a heart to heart; a bad guy gets vaporized by "These aren't Hydra weapons! These are much cooler SHIELD Phase 2 weapons," and Bruce/Hulk has a personal break through.
Author's Note(s): Welcome to a new chapter! I think there will be one more after this…and then possibly one on the leather notebook mentioned in the first chapter.
So… this chapter came to me because of that scene in the Avengers where Natasha and Bruce get blasted out of the RnD room. She tries to reassure him, he looks at her, and BAM! Bruce's Hulked out and pissy.
Please note I haven't actually watched the Hulk movie… there have been like 5 remakes since the 90's and that can get a little monotonous… so I am making up a lot of the information on that part of things. Again, if something like that would bother you, please don't feel like you need to read this.
/thoughts/
Chapter 2: Where Bruce Learns to Relax
5 Months after Loki's attack
"Ok! You are going to play me, Bruce AND Natasha…at the same time. You can't possibly win all three games!" Clint had gone out and bought a couple more chess sets a week or so ago after Steve had repeatedly beat the three of them whenever they played. Currently, the marksman had three boards set up on the dinning room table, with the hope that having Steve play multiple people at the same time might give the others (or Clint at least) the chance to win.
Steve just shook his head in exasperation and crossed his arms, "All three of you at the same time. Bruce AND Natasha agreed to this?"
"It should give you a bit of a challenge right Steve?" Bruce came into the room holding his Starkpad, Natasha right behind him with a book written in Russian so the others didn't know what it was about.
"Besides," added Natasha, "It will be three times as good when you beat Clint while playing three games at once."
Twenty minutes later Tony came up from his lab for a new pot of coffee to find an unusual sight at the dinning room table. Clint was sitting on the counter, back to the table while Bruce, Natasha and Steve played chess. A third game board was cleaned up and reset off to the side.
"What's with the pout bird man?" Tony started up the coffee machine and went over to the table to see what was going on.
"Steve beat Clint first," said Natasha not looking up from her book, "He's sulking."
"Am not." Came the reply from the counter.
"You're playing all three of them at once?" Tony leaned over the table looking at the two boards. Steve was taking his turn against Bruce, while the scientist looked over the board.
"Check mate." Said Steve as he moved his Knight. He then moved over to Natasha's board looked it over, and "Check mate." He moved a Bishop taking one of her Knights.
Tony whistled, "Wow Cap! That's crazy!"
The coffee machine beeped and Tony made his way to get a cup. After downing the first cup like it was water, he refilled and started to make his way out of the kitchen.
"Wait! STARK!" Clint jumped off the counter and pointed at the other resident genius.
"What?!" Tony spun around not sure what to expect.
"Steve can play against YOU!" Clint had a slightly wild look in his eye as he looked between their Captain and Engineer.
The others all raised their eyebrows at the look, Natasha muttering lowly in Russian from the table.
"Maybe some other time Clint," said Steve, "Tony's probably working on something important right now, and I should get down to the gym for a while."
"Damn straight!" Tony nodded at Steve, "Not that I wouldn't want to beat you at a game of chess, but I am very busy doing…. things … in the lab right now."
Steve's mouth twitched into a little smile but he didn't say anything. Clint, still with the wild look just glanced between the pair. He wasn't going to give up on this, they could all tell.
"Barton, help clean up the table." Natasha's voice broke through the silence deflating Clint just a little. Between the four of them, Tony having escaped back to his lab, everything was put away rather quickly.
Bruce was in his lab later that week when Steve stopped in to see him. Bruce knew that Steve had been watching him for the past couple weeks, but the scientist wasn't quite sure why. There had been a battle involving giant insects that had been fed weird nuclear goo making them a pain to kill two weeks prior, but that had been it. The Other Guy had done his part, and followed orders from Steve, which Bruce still found hard to believe- but they had won the battle, so the physicist didn't know what the problem was.
"Hey Bruce," Steve was leaning against the door, in a very non threatening manner, "Do you have a few minutes to talk?"
Bruce put down his file and sat on his stool, "Sure, pull up a seat."
Steve moved into the room and pulled up a stool from another worktable and sat down, "I wanted to talk to you about the serum… if you don't mind."
The physicist tensed, but managed to take a couple calming breaths to relax some. He didn't need The Other Guy getting agitated over whatever it was Steve had to say. After a few moments Bruce found his voice, "Sure. Anything specific or just in general?"
Steve regarded Bruce quietly for a moment, his face giving nothing away in what he was thinking. "Did you know that I wasn't the first to get Erksine's serum?"
Bruce raised an eyebrow, not sure where Steve was going with this conversation, "Yeah, Schmidt took it to didn't he? But it wasn't complete and he wasn't stable…"
"Erksine said the way the serum worked was to take a good man and make him great, while taking a bad man and making him worse." Steve leaned forward a little bit, making sure he had Bruce's full attention and maintained eye contact, "Schmidt was bad before the serum, but after… he was evil incarnate. He was the Red Skull."
Bruce's face took on a confused expression; he wasn't sure where Steve was going with the conversation. "The Other Guy-"
Steve shook his head, "You are not a bad man Bruce. You weren't before your experiment, and you certainly aren't now. Because of this, the Other Guy… the Hulk… he cannot be evil. He is not a monster."
Now Bruce was shaking his head in denial, but Steve didn't let him get a word in edge wise, "Bruce, had you been alive in the 1940's… had you been found by Erksine… you would've been another candidate for his serum. You could've been the first Super Solider. I know, because we are very similar in the qualities that count- the qualities that would make a good man great. When you did your experiment, there wasn't a problem with the man it was the serum that was flawed. And even then, I believe you where on the right track for getting it correct. The calculations were a little off, or whatever it is you science guys do with that kind of thing."
There was a small smile tugging at the super soldier's lips so Bruce knew that last bit was not meant as a dig. Steve leaned over and poked Bruce in the chest, the same way that Doctor Erksine did to him, "The man makes all the difference with the serum. You're a better man than you give yourself credit for."
"If The Other Guy is what you consider a little flaw…then I'd hate to see what would constitute as a big flaw." Bruce shook his head, even though Tony would constantly tell him these kinds of things, it seemed to hold more weight coming from Steve. Bruce felt himself relaxing just a little more than he usually did.
Steve saw Bruce start to relax and his smiled became a little wider, "Trust me when I say you don't want to know."
There was a moment of silence between the pair, where they were both contemplating what was already said. Now that Steve saw that Bruce was more relaxed he thought he could bring up the other thing he wanted to talk about.
"You know, Doctor Erksine was very vague when he told me about what the serum would do." Bruce looked up, interested in where Steve was now taking the conversation, "There were the specific things like strength, speed, metabolism… stuff like that. But there were other things that weren't mentioned, that I don't even know if he realized what fully would happen. But he died before I had a chance to ask him."
Bruce nodded, having known that from his own research but didn't add anything.
"When Erksine died..." Steve hesitated a moment before continuing, "I was angry. And I wanted revenge against the man who did it, and there was a moment- with that anger, where I felt a change in myself. I felt different, in a sense, and I took off after the Hydra operative. I didn't Hulk Out…as Tony and Clint like to call it, in the same way that you do, but there was a change- a need to protect, but also a need for some revenge."
Bruce's eyebrows jumped straight to his hairline, what Steve was talking about now… was not in any of the files he had read. /I wonder if Steve did that on purpose…/
"Why didn't you share that with the doctors and the army? Why keep it to yourself?" Bruce was truly confused about why Steve wouldn't let that bit of information be known. He could've went straight onto the front lines, not be a performer or lab rat.
"One of the extras from the serum was this gut feeling- I think you might have it to… if you gave yourself a chance to listen. But my gut was telling me in that lab, at that time, it wasn't right. It wasn't the place or time to give over that information. Colonial Phillips wanted an army of super soldiers that had speed, strength, and would obey orders, so that is what I gave them after I went to Italy and after I mounted the rescue that changed everything… I gave them Captain America." Steve was looking intently at Bruce, trying to make him understand what Steve was trying to tell him.
For all his genius though, Bruce felt like he was missing something. He couldn't figure out what that was… just that there was a missing piece to this puzzle, "So…when you're Captain America… that's the serum. And when you're not… You're Steve Rodgers? But you can turn it off! With the Other guy… there is no "off switch…" he's always there trying to take over if I let my guard down to much. How is that the same?"
Steve smiled and shook his head, "Not quite doc, during the war I was only able to "turn off" Captain America, so to speak because Captain America knew without a shadow of a doubt that Bucky, and the Howling Commandos had my back. That it was safe for me to relax and let go. And that was an automatic response because growing up with Bucky… we were always watching out for each other- him more so than me for obvious reasons. But I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was ok for me to let go while not on missions."
"So you're saying I don't feel safe here?" Bruce raised an eyebrow.
"Do you?" Steve shot back right away. It wasn't condescending, but there was something in his tone that told Bruce the super soldier could read him like an open book. Bruce flushed slightly and looked away but didn't respond.
"Bruce," Steve waited for the scientist to look at him again, "I get it. I really do- when the accident happened it didn't go the way it was supposed to- and there were a lot of people out for your blood because they didn't understand- still don't really- what the Other Guy is. If I were in your situation I would feel the same way. And it's been so long since the accident that it's hard for you to let go, but it's even harder for the Other Guy to completely trust others enough to have your back because that's always been hard for you as well. You are afraid of yourself, and the Other Guy is afraid for you. Does that make sense?"
Bruce really thought about what Steve was saying. The Super Soldier didn't push, and let him take the conversation in. Bruce has always had trust issues, and since the accident they'd been amplified to the extreme. But what Steve was saying made sense in a way. "So how do I get over this? How can I learn to let go?"
"I don't think you've been in a situation yet where the Other Guy and you have both felt completely safe with the people around you. Yes we go on missions together, and Hulk will obey orders in his own way, and yes around the Tower the others try to make you feel welcome, but even with us you are afraid to let go and trust, which means the other guy is still going to be afraid for you and will stay at the surface because he wants to keep you safe. It's just going to take time, and I want to help you figure this out."
Steve's voice held such sincerity that Bruce felt himself starting to believe him just a little. The scientist nodded and Steve seemed to realize this was the end of the conversation for today. He stood and moved his chair back to where it was at another workbench.
"Steve…thanks." Steve looked over at him with a small smile and nodded, before turning and making his way out of the lab.
It was later that day that Bruce realized that Steve was trying to help him feel like he was part of a family- a crazy group of people with their own quirks and enough issues to make them all certifiable for two life times, but a family nonetheless.
It was actually a couple weeks after that afternoon conversation, when a ton of shit hit the fan that Bruce finally understood exactly what Steve was talking about. And even though he was there, in the situation, the scientist couldn't articulate what exactly happened if his life depended on it.
Which, at the time; it did.
Bruce was making his way down the road to a small diner that he and Steve would occasionally go to for lunch when it happened. There was a strange feeling in his gut that the scientist didn't recognize at first was a warning. It was only after he felt several something's hit the back of his neck, and extreme drowsiness set in that Bruce understood the gut feeling for what it was.
But at that point it was to late, because he- and the Other Guy were both fighting a losing battle against consciousness.
It could've been hours…or days later when Bruce started to regain control of his senses. But even then everything was woozy. The Other Guy was fairing only slightly better than he was, but Bruce was also trying to control him at the same time. Voices were around him, one of whom sounded alarmingly familiar, but he was still very much out of it and couldn't understand what was being said.
"Dosage…Sir…sleep…" Things were getting dark again, and Bruce again lost the battle with consciousness.
"Bruce…Bruce!...Wake…Bruce!" Someone was standing over him… and another familiar voice was fighting its way into his brain.
"…Steve…?" Bruce slowly regained his senses and realized who it was standing over him. He could also feel the Other Guy fighting to wake as well, and take over. "Where… what?" Bruce groaned and fought off the Hulk for control.
"Come on… Sit up. There you go." Steve had a hand around Bruce's shoulder's helping him sit up. Bruce took a look around the room as he fought for control from the Other Guy and saw three scientists, and two guards all lying very still on the ground. Bruce was couldn't hold off the Other Guy any longer, he tried to push Steve away.
"Steve…can't… I can't…" He could feel himself turning green, so he tried harder to get away from Steve's tight grip.
"Hey, Bruce- it's ok. Stop struggling. Bruce!" Steve tightened his hold around Bruce's shoulders, "Hey. It's okay. Let me talk to Hulk."
"That's… not a really good idea right now Steve." Bruce doubled his efforts to get away.
"It's fine. Trust me… Bruce. Let me talk to him." Steve's voice took on a hard tone to it, one that he reserved for missions. Bruce felt the Other Guy respond to the command and felt his head turn towards their team lead- the Hulk more in control than him.
"Hulk." Steve's voice was firm and Bruce felt like an outsider in his own skin, "Hulk- I need Bruce's help right now. Let me protect him, so he can help me get us out of here. Let me protect him for you."
Bruce felt strange. The Other Guy was looking at Steve the same way he looked at Natasha on the Helicarrier during Loki's attack. The Other Guy was angry, as was his usual, but there was something else there as well… a feeling Bruce couldn't identify as he watched the starring contest going on from inside his head.
Without warning Bruce felt the Other Guy growl and suddenly recede back into their shared mind. Bruce nearly toppled over in both shock and confusion because he was back in control of his body. /Holy Shit! What just happened?/
Bruce could feel the other guy, but it was how he normally was. He was angry- yes, but he wasn't trying to take over… he was… waiting… and watching…
Steve arms around him were the only things keeping him upright for a few moments, as Bruce could not process what had just happened. "You… what…. Huh?"
"Are you alright?" Steve's concerned glaze looked him over, his arms careful around his shoulders as the super soldier waited for Bruce to regain control. Bruce nodded and sat up straighter, still lost at how Steve had managed to get the Other Guy to back down.
"What did you do?!" Bruce really wasn't processing very well. This had never happened before.
"I'll explain later. Are you all right? I wasn't joking when I told the Other Guy that I needed your help." Steve pulled his hands away and moved a little away from the table back towards one of the scientists. He grabbed the ID tags off his jacket and started to move towards the guard who was holding what looked like one of SHIELD's Phase 2 weapons.
Bruce pulled himself together with a deep calming breath, "I'll be okay. Where are we? What's going on?" He jumped off the table and steadied himself with the edge of it as he got control of his legs again.
"We seem to have been captured. Just the two of us from what I can tell. These guys were trying to do something with the serum… or trying to do something with us from what I can tell." Steve grabbed the phase 2 weapon look alike and moved back over to Bruce. "Does the name General Ross mean anything to you?"
Steve must've known it would, because Bruce felt the Hulk growl again and start to take over.
"Hulk!" Steve's voice was firm, and the look in his eyes was back, "Let me do this." Bruce suddenly realized what the strange feeling was from earlier… danger… was radiating off of Steve in waves. But not a danger towards them- it was towards their captors. Hulk receded again, but only just.
"Ross is here?!" Bruce was feeling slightly dizzy from this little back and forth he was playing with the Other Guy. Steve nodded, "I have a plan to get us out… Trust me."
The feeling of danger was radiating off Steve in an intense wave, which oddly enough was helping the Other Guy stay in the back of their mind. Steve blasted the weapon at the three scientists and two guards causing all three to vaporize.
"Not Hydra weapons my ass." Steve muttered as he moved towards the door. "Okay. Here's the plan…" The super soldier proceeded to outline a plan to get them out of the base they were in.
The base itself was relatively small with only authorized personnel and a skeleton crew of guards. The pair methodically made their way through the base- Steve vaporizing everyone they came in contact with and Bruce trailing close behind him. When they got to the main control room there were a few officers, and the loud voice of one General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross giving out commands. Steve pushed Bruce off to the side of the door and used the ID tag to open the door.
With the gun at the ready the Super Soldier pushed into the room before the door was even fully open, blasting at all the people sitting at the different stations. By the time their captors realized what was happening Ross and Steve were the only ones left in the room.
The General opened his mouth to say something… probably about how Steve was acting like an enemy to the country because he was shooting without hesitation at US Army soldiers- but the speech never came because Steve blasted him straight in the chest, vaporizing him like everyone else on the base. "All clear Bruce."
Bruce made his way into the room, not even glancing around at the lack of people. He had tried to say something at first, when Steve was shooting at the guards and scientists but the super soldier calmly told him that some times killing was necessary and when someone threatened his crazy family he tended to take that kind of thing personally and wasn't above revenge in this capacity. Bruce at that point remembered stories Steve had given them about the war and realized this was the same kind of situation for the solider.
"Besides," Steve added, "I have a promise to keep."
The scientist didn't say anything else after that.
Bruce went up to the computers and started hacking through the bases recorders and also the radiation labs set up near where they had woken up. Steve was at another computer sending out a message for pick up and setting off the bases self-destruct sequence.
Steve's computer beeped, signaling the start of the count down just as Bruce's computer signaled the labs to open the radiation protection panels, which started leaking said radiation into the base as a whole.
"We good?" Bruce nodded and the pair made their way out of the base, everyone there having been vaporized. Steve blasted open the exit hatch, which lead the pair into a forest clearing. The two started jogging through the trees, trying to put as much distance between them and the impending explosion as they could.
Five minutes later, the ground rumbled as the base self destructed and imploded into the ground, creating a crater in the middle of the forest. Bruce and Steve stopped at the base of a large tree near the edge of the crater as they waited for their pick up and Bruce experienced something completely alien happen with his body. The Other Guy, who had been tensely waiting through the whole experience, seemed to settle into his mind- no longer at the front of his consciousness, but actually farther back and less… angry. Bruce felt like he could breath deeply for the first time in years, and couldn't hold back his astonishment at this revelation- sharing it with Steve as he sank to the forest floor under the tree.
Steve nodded, the feel of danger leaving him as he joined Bruce to settle at the base of the tree. The super soldier didn't say anything, he just let Bruce process what had happened. The conversation from a few weeks prior echoed through Bruce's brain and he suddenly realized that this was what Steve meant. There had been a moment in the facility where the Other Guy really looked at Steve and saw he meant what he was saying. The feeling of danger he was projecting was one of protectiveness. He would keep Bruce safe for the Hulk no matter what he needed to do to achieve that goal.
For the first time in a long time, Bruce and the Other Guy both believed that Steve would do everything in his power to help keep them safe. That he had their back. With Steve around, Bruce could feel the Other Guy settle more, letting the scientist relax in a way he hadn't been able to in years.
Bruce shared this revelation with Steve, which lead to the super soldier smiling widely and throwing an arm around Bruce's shoulder in a show of support, but also grounding him with this knew found knowledge. The pair talked about it a little more, with Steve giving more information about the gut feeling aspect of things and Bruce making a hypothesis on other ways to see how far reaching this new level of control was.
After a while they ended up telling each other stories about lab assistants who were to creative in their experimentation and liked to blow things up or stupid things the Howling Commandos (mostly Bucky mind you), did to try to embarrass Steve when they were in between missions.
Their pick up came about two hours later in the form of Iron Man and a quinjet holding Clint, Natasha and Coulson. Tony was the first on scene, only to be completely flabbergasted by the sight of Bruce literally rolling on the floor in fits of laughter, with tears in his eyes, at whatever story Steve was telling him. There was no green anywhere on his body that Tony could detect, making the scene even more confusing for the genius. "What in the world is so funny Banner? Do share with the rest of the class!"
Steve paused in his story long enough to say, "You're late," which allowed Bruce to try to get control of himself as the three SHIELD agents exited the quinjet, and carefully made their way over to the seated pair of Avengers.
"You alright Doctor Banner?" Natasha's cautious voice stopped whatever smart-ass reply Tony was going to make. Bruce nodded as Steve stood and offered him a hand up. The scientist dried the rest of the tears from his eyes and nodded his thanks at Steve for the hand up.
"Yes, I'm fine… Perfect really." The doctor's demeanor seemed completely different, totally relaxed- something that confused their group of rescuers. Bruce was expecting the Other Guy to come back towards the forefront of his mind, now that they weren't alone and the relaxation to turn to tension again, but Steve bumped their arms and the Other Guy stayed settled at the back of his mind. The physicist had a certain lightness in his step, and a smile that reached his eyes as they made their way back to the jet and SHIELD head quarters for a debriefing.
The debrief at SHIELD was a rather interesting affair, to be sure. Steve took the lead in explaining what had happened at the facility, leaving out bits of information and rearranging other things in their story. He started by saying he had sort of woken up in the lab first, to the sounds of someone who Bruce later seventy percent I.D'ed as General Ross, ("Give me a break Tony- I was more drugged than a herd of full grown elephants… they could've had a talking kangaroo for all I know…") and a couple of scientists talking amongst themselves- something about controlling the serum or destroying the two of them.
The General, or who ever it was, had left in a hurry after speaking with the scientists- something about not being affiliated with this project (Steve had heard that bit)- and within a half hour an alarm had started going off. Apparently one of the labs had a radiation leak which lead to the whole facility being evacuated. Steve had gained full consciousness by that point- because of the blaring alarms and was able to break out of his restraints and help Bruce. Obviously at that point their captors were going with the destroying the two of them portion of their plan as they had been left in the room alone when the alarms went off.
The pair had made their way to a computer in order to send off a communication for extraction, and got out of the facility into the surrounding forest just in time for the whole thing to collapse in on itself. (Apparently the facility had a self-destruct code that would be triggered by the radiation levels going critical.) Then they just waited for pick up by amusing each other with funny stories.
"Really Director, there was not a single person left in the building when we made our exit. But by that point the radiation levels were steadily climbing, so it was dangerous for our captors to stay." Steve wove the tale with such conviction and ease that Bruce could only nod in agreement with what was being said.
When Fury had questioned him about why he hadn't "Hulked Out," he just rubbed his forehead and explained that the drugs they had tranqed him with had somehow subdued the Other Guy even after he had woken up. By the time the Other Guy was fully awake, they were making their way into the forest and Steve had been able to talk him down from blowing up, so to speak. He kept his mannerisms on par with how he normally acted at these meetings, which seemed to help ease the Director's mind… (Well Bruce hoped it did anyway.)
Bruce had a feeling the team and Coulson didn't quite believe their story, but they were willing to let it go until they were out of SHIELD HQ and back at Stark Tower before they called their bluff. Clint even went so far as to back up what they had said by providing evidence from the quinjet scans that showed high levels of radiation coming from the crater. Tony had then backed that up with his own scans from his suit, and Phil had called in a containment team to stop said radiation from spreading into the surrounding forest.
It was hard for Bruce to tell if Fury had believed their story, the man had a poker face almost as good as Steve's (and THAT had been a hilarious night when the team figured that little bit of information out…), but in the end the fact that it was Captain America weaving this particular tale… and he's an innocent national icon- why would he make something like this up?- That allowed them to leave the brief with their story as is.
When the group returned to the Tower, the escapees were able to fend off attempts at more questioning by claiming exhaustion and they made their way to their respective rooms. Steve bumped Bruce's shoulder as he left the elevator for his floor, "let Jarvis know if I need to stop by for any reason tonight."
Bruce nodded as the doors closed. The Other Guy, who had stayed at the back of the scientists' mind the whole way back from the facility, seemed to growl his acceptance at the Captain's words. Hulk made no move to take over or push forwards into Bruce's consciousness- he seemed content and Bruce didn't have to feel angry to be in control of himself.
For the first time in a long time Bruce was able to have a full nights deep sleep without worrying about the Other Guy trying to take over.
Bruce could get used to this newfound calm.
"Really Barton? Why would I use one of these…. Boards…. When I can have Jarvis pull up a hologram board?! That would make the game like thirty percent cooler... Although I'm not sure if that would give me an unfair advantage since I'm not even sure Capsicle here even knows how the hologram board would work…" Tony had been dragged from his lab by said marksman a couple of days after the capture/rescue mission of their teammates so Tony could finally play a game of chess against Steve. The genius had been putting it off for whatever reason (probably just to annoy Clint), but today the archer had been relentless in his annoyance of Tony.
Steve's lips twitched up into a small, amused smirk but he didn't say anything in return. He did however move over to the hologram table, where Jarvis had brought up an artificial chess board and plucked a black and white piece up- juggling them for a moment then putting his hands behind his back. "Left or right?"
Tony grinned back and chose right… He was white and had the first move. The others watched in fascination as the game moved rather quickly. After a couple minutes though Tony realized it wouldn't be an easy win like he had originally thought and started concentrating a little harder on the board.
"Check mate," however his attempt was too little to late, and he lost.
"Well crap." The genius, billionaire, ex-playboy, philanthropist gave Captain America a small glare and had Jarvis reset the board. Clint was grinning because that game had lasted even less than the ones he played against Steve.
Their second game ended with the same outcome, but in Tony's defense he did pay better attention and the game did take longer than the first.
Before Tony could demand a third game, as he was a pretty sore loser, a call came in from his friend Rhodey. The military Colonel very casually asked Tony if he and his friends had heard or seen any movement from a General Thaddeus Ross, who was known for his special interest in a certain doctor currently in residence at the tower.
Tony didn't miss a beat, in replying with, "No we haven't seen or heard from Thunderboy Ross in a while, but we will be extra vigilant and keep our eyes and ears open and report any suspicious activity to both SHIELD and the army."
The pair went round in circles for a couple more minutes before Rhodey pinched the bridge of his nose, reiterated that the Tower residences should report something ASAP if they found anything- "Damn it this is serious Tony!"- and cut off the connection.
Bruce, who was still in his newfound state of relaxation, couldn't quite hold in his slightly evil chuckle, which lead to Steve producing an evil grin of his own. This lead to the rest of them pulling the pair to the rec rooms couch, and demanding the real story of what had happened a few days prior with their capture.
Bruce and Steve shared a look, then preceded to explain the true version of events on the day in question, while the others looked on with morbid fascination. By the end of their tale all thoughts of chess were long forgotten.
Well, they eventually reasoned, that was one less bad guy they had to be on the look out for… right?
-The End-