The Responsible Science Series by Lettered
Fandom: THE AVENGERS
Pairing: No pairings. Series is Gen. Centered around Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, and Tony Stark. Which is NOT to say the other Avengers aren't around, they are.
Length: entire series: 217,686
Author on LJ: lettered
Author Website: (or a link to where more of their fic is archived) At AO3
Why this must be read: I honestly thought someone had already recced The Kids Weren't Alright, and I was going to link to that rec and specifically talk about Let's Stop The Time Warp Again but it wasn't, so here I am with another entire series of the MOST MIND BOGGLINGLY AMAZING FIC EVER!! FOR REAL.
If you like Bruce Banner, this is your series. If you like complex characterization, plots built on science [and comic book science] with a fine hand for nuance and foreshadowing, this is your series. If you like your Avengers to come together own their own terms, this is your series.
I am still awestruck at the depth and richness and, and, and, vastness that is Let's Stop the Time Warp [and this series]. Seriously, this series is something so special, so rare, so all-encompassing, and so amazing that it's humbling to read.
Excerpt from Let's Stop The Time Warp
Sometimes Bruce went outside, saw the cranes, trucks, helicopters, sheets of metal, sparks of iron, robots, tanks of gas and people, people upon people upon people, and felt something that he thought must be just a little bit like faith. This was what some people felt when they saw a sky full of stars, when they saw a forest suffused with mist, when they saw horses running in a field or flowers blooming in the wake of snow. They believed in a power that planned and created, that knew what beauty was and made it happen, a force that was almost unknowable in terms of its awesome potential. Sometimes Bruce felt like he believed in that force; the only difference was the word he used for it was man.
There were other times, though, when Bruce saw it all and thought about how easy it would be to stop it all. He could do it with several swipes of his big green fists. The world was such a fragile place, and here they were trying so desperately to restore the delicate balance of this thing called time, and sometimes Bruce just thought they’d all be better off without. He didn’t know why all of it mattered so much, why they all cared so much.
Bruce had walked for days, once, in the wilderness in the north of Greenland. He’d thought it was hilarious, because of the name, and he’d walked and walked and walked. He’d walked until he couldn’t feel his feet, his hands, his nose, his tongue, because if they all fell off, it wouldn’t matter. If he Hulked out, it wouldn’t matter. The world was nothing but white, and it didn’t matter.
It didn’t matter at all.
Responsible Science Series
A Fine Spur: Bruce and Natasha 10,500 words
The Hollow Men: Bruce and Steve 25,254 words
Keep Your Splendid Silent Sun: Bruce, Steve, Natasha, Tony, Pepper 12,317
The Kids Weren't Alright: Everyone 56,199 This is your de-ageing fic to beat all de-aging fics. WITH SCIENCE. Everything is better with science.
Let's Stop The Time Warp: Everyone 113,146
Pairing: No pairings. Series is Gen. Centered around Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, and Tony Stark. Which is NOT to say the other Avengers aren't around, they are.
Length: entire series: 217,686
Author on LJ: lettered
Author Website: (or a link to where more of their fic is archived) At AO3
Why this must be read: I honestly thought someone had already recced The Kids Weren't Alright, and I was going to link to that rec and specifically talk about Let's Stop The Time Warp Again but it wasn't, so here I am with another entire series of the MOST MIND BOGGLINGLY AMAZING FIC EVER!! FOR REAL.
If you like Bruce Banner, this is your series. If you like complex characterization, plots built on science [and comic book science] with a fine hand for nuance and foreshadowing, this is your series. If you like your Avengers to come together own their own terms, this is your series.
I am still awestruck at the depth and richness and, and, and, vastness that is Let's Stop the Time Warp [and this series]. Seriously, this series is something so special, so rare, so all-encompassing, and so amazing that it's humbling to read.
Excerpt from Let's Stop The Time Warp
Sometimes Bruce went outside, saw the cranes, trucks, helicopters, sheets of metal, sparks of iron, robots, tanks of gas and people, people upon people upon people, and felt something that he thought must be just a little bit like faith. This was what some people felt when they saw a sky full of stars, when they saw a forest suffused with mist, when they saw horses running in a field or flowers blooming in the wake of snow. They believed in a power that planned and created, that knew what beauty was and made it happen, a force that was almost unknowable in terms of its awesome potential. Sometimes Bruce felt like he believed in that force; the only difference was the word he used for it was man.
There were other times, though, when Bruce saw it all and thought about how easy it would be to stop it all. He could do it with several swipes of his big green fists. The world was such a fragile place, and here they were trying so desperately to restore the delicate balance of this thing called time, and sometimes Bruce just thought they’d all be better off without. He didn’t know why all of it mattered so much, why they all cared so much.
Bruce had walked for days, once, in the wilderness in the north of Greenland. He’d thought it was hilarious, because of the name, and he’d walked and walked and walked. He’d walked until he couldn’t feel his feet, his hands, his nose, his tongue, because if they all fell off, it wouldn’t matter. If he Hulked out, it wouldn’t matter. The world was nothing but white, and it didn’t matter.
It didn’t matter at all.
Responsible Science Series
A Fine Spur: Bruce and Natasha 10,500 words
The Hollow Men: Bruce and Steve 25,254 words
Keep Your Splendid Silent Sun: Bruce, Steve, Natasha, Tony, Pepper 12,317
The Kids Weren't Alright: Everyone 56,199 This is your de-ageing fic to beat all de-aging fics. WITH SCIENCE. Everything is better with science.
Let's Stop The Time Warp: Everyone 113,146