The Universe's Mixer

( Avengers Assemble? )

Waking up in The City was the best thing to happen to Clara Oswald in weeks. It gave her something else to think about, a mystery to solve, an alien to figure out. Oh sure, The City played a good game but it was most certainly alien. The Doctor wasn't going to be around to help anytime soon, seeing as he found Gallifrey, so it was all up to her now.

No Doctor, no TARDIS, no screwdriver, no psychic paper. She never felt happier to be left on her own. She ran. First things, first: get the best layout of the place that she could, try to get a sense of the size of it, notice anything that was off. She was good at running, she'd been a companion for years. Maybe not marathon good, but run for your life good - she was covered. She noticed the streets repeated themselves sometimes. She noticed that she was hardly noticed. The people here weren't just busy with their own lives, there was most certainly something off about them. She made a mental note to investigate that next.

Clara kept running until she couldn't. Until she was standing on a street corner and braced her hands against her knees and waited until she caught her breath, grinning like a loon.

"I think this place could use a Doctor..." she panted to no one in particular.

Bruce had been dreading this. Why? He wasn't sure exactly. He knew that this Tony wasn't his Tony, the man that had spent the last two years since the attack on New York creating things with him in the solace of the newly re-vamped Stark Tower. They had made so many things together that this felt like a step backward. Was VERONICA here? Did Ultron exist? What about FRIDAY? Apparently JARVIS was still functional. That eerily British voice was soothing to the scientist.

Bruce had finally gathered the courage to approach the building itself. He had noticed it on the skyline and Steve had confirmed that the inventor was there. So why was he so nervous in his initial engagement of the facility? Tony had never been one to turn him away. But it seemed he had been here before. How long ago? He wasn't sure. But a part of him had been here and left a significant mark.

"Welcome back, Doctor Banner." Oh Jarvis. He had missed the program a good deal. Having not had the chance to see FRIDAY in action, Bruce had seen the manifestation of JARVIS in The Vision. It was strange seeing Jarvis as an entity and not a program, and yet here...here he was still functional as Tony's right hand. Besides Pepper, of course. Was Pepper here too?

The elevator made it's way up as if it knew where it was taking him. When the doors opened, a laboratory setting greeted him. Welcome back... had he left this all behind? In some strange way?

First things first.

Bruce uploaded the VERONICA protocol to Jarvis' mainframe. It would go into effect and be built immediately. This would help against an outbreak. He couldn't deny Tony or the City this vital piece of equipment. Then, he opened the computers and began to study the data. His eyebrows arched and his eyes widened.

A serum. There was a serum. He had invented it and yet knew nothing about it. Fascinating.

This was going to take a while.