June 1st – S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier – Africa, Somewhere Over The Northern Congo Region
The main bridge of the Helicarrier buzzed with activity as dozens of shield agents scurried about gathering and relaying new Intel from one place to the next. All this took place, of course, under the ever-watchful eye of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury.
Fury stood at the forefront of the bridge looking over several data screens, all projected out from a nearby computer console, while his earpiece hummed with the sounds of several different voices. To anyone else that alone would be enough to drive a sane person completely mad.
Fury had to listen carefully and prioritize each new bit of information, and then formulate a response based on level of importance and relevance in relation to the situation at hand.
"Does anyone down there have eyes on the bomb yet?" Fury spoke above the rest of the noise and chatter that filled the bridge. "Stark?"
"Sorry Nick." Tony replied over the radio transmitters. "Kinda have my hands full at the moment." The billionaire inventor replied over the sound of repulsor fire. "I'll have to get back to you in just a-"
There was a moment of pause on the line, and Fury listened intently waiting for Tony Stark to come back on. "Stark, you there?"
"Oh crap." Stark was heard saying. "Um, yeah—can ya give me just a minu-no no no!" A loud thwack sounded over the radio, and Fury had to turn his head slightly, wincing from the sting he felt in his ears.
"Stark!" Fury barked loudly then. "Captain Rogers, can you assist Iron Man?" the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director tried.
"No can do sir." Rogers replied. "I've got troubles of my own to deal with right now."
"Damnit." Fury swore rather loudly. "Agent Romanoff, please tell me you can do better?" Nick Fury fumed at the woman he considered to be one of his best agents.
There was only silence over the radio waves for what seemed like a long moment, but then the former Russian spy finally answered. "Sorry about that sir. I'm approaching the device now."
Fury closed his eyes, and let go of a short sigh of relief. "Hallelujah." He breathed. "Talk to me."
"It's unlike anything I've seen before." Natasha Romanoff relayed to her boss. "It looks like some sort of amplified EMP device." She continued. "This is highly complicated equipment sir. I'm sending you some pictures now."
Fury pressed a button on his nearby console, and within just a few seconds a new set of information flashed up before his eye(s). He quickly glanced over the pictures of the device, and found his blood pressure beginning to rise even more rapidly than before.
"You're right, this doesn't look too good at all." Fury said at last. "Think you can disarm it?"
"Negative sir. And the timer's showing seven minutes and counting until detonation."
"Shit!" Fury swore angrily. "Not enough time for an effective evacuation."
"No sir." The female agent responded in agreement. "What's our next move?"
At the back of the room the two sliding doors suddenly opened wide to allow Bruce Banner entry onto the bridge. He walked quickly towards Nick Fury with certain purpose, despite Agent Maria Hills' insistence that he wait a moment.
"Dr. Banner, please. Director Fury is quite busy-" Agent Hill tried again.
"I have to speak with him now. Trust me on this—it can't wait." Banner said, pushing forward past the female S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.
"Fury!" Banner called as he walked up on the Director. "We need to talk."
"Not now, Doctor." Fury replied calmly, without looking back. "In case you haven't noticed, we're kind of in the middle of something right now." He added.
"Its important." Banner insisted. "If you'll just listen I-"
"I'm trying to defuse a bomb here, Banner, so I would really appreciate a lit-" Fury started.
Bruce Banner closed his eyes, and tried to stop his own rising blood pressure from reaching a critical level. He snapped. "Its about the bomb!" He nearly screamed. It was ultimately a miracle that he didn't hulk out right then and there.
Everyone in the room stopped, and seemed to stare across at the scientist standing just behind Director Fury. Bruce immediately forced himself to breathe, and think happy peaceful thoughts.
Fury finally turned to face Banner. "You have my attention, Doctor." Fury said coolly. "Please…continue."
Banner opened his eyes and looked at Fury for a moment before speaking. Fury waited patiently for a couple of seconds before speaking up himself. "Anytime now."
"R-Right." Banner said at last. "I've been monitoring things from the lab, and just a few moments ago I picked up a tiny radiation signature emanating from the bomb. It's Gamma."
"Gamma." Fury repeated aloud.
"Yeah." Banner replied. "I believe it may be powered by gamma radiation. The effects of its detonation may be felt a lot farther than originally thought."
Fury took a brief moment to process the new information. "You think you can disarm it, Doctor?" Fury asked.
"Yeah, I think so. But I'd need to be on the ground to do it." Banner said somewhat confidently, as he ran a hand through his dark, wavy locks.
"I don't know. What about the other guy? Where does he fit in?" Fury asked understandably curious as to the good doctor's current mental state.
"He won't be a problem." Banner replied.
"Sir, I think we should give Doctor Banner a chance to at least try." Natasha Romanoff said over the radio.
"Alright. Hill, get Banner down to ground level—on the double." Fury barked commandingly. "Romanoff, what are your coordinates?"
"Thanks you." Banner replied quickly, before turning to follow Agent Hill out to the flight deck.
The female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent relayed her exact coordinates to her boss. "Once he's on the ground, Agent Romanoff, he's your responsibility." Fury said through his earpiece to the female agent on the other end.
"Copy that." Romanoff replied. "I'll be awaiting his arrival."
Fury then turned back to his data screens, and pressed a switch on the nearby console. The switch allowed Fury to speak where everyone patched into his radio frequency could hear him. "Everyone listen up! Ground team, Doctor Banner's headed your way. He thinks he can disarm the bomb. He needs room and time." Fury spouted over the radio waves.
"That really a good idea sir?" Captain Rogers asked over the radio. "I mean not that I don't trust him, but with so many civilians inhabiting the outlying areas-"
"-Yeah, I'm gonna have to side the Captain on this one, Nick." Stark said, cutting in on the conversation just a second later.
"I am well aware of the risks." Fury replied firmly. "He says he's got it under control, and I'm inclined to believe him. Also, given the circumstances at hand, I don't think we have much of a choice in the matter."
"Understood, sir." Captain Rogers responded quickly.
"If you say so." Stark added afterward.
"But," Fury started again after having quickly made an executive decision on a related matter. "If he should fail—everyone will have a one minute warning to clear the area as quickly as possible."
"Oh, That makes me feel so much better." Stark remarked aloud.
"Can it Stark!" Fury snapped.
Agent Maria Hill brought the jet down easily in a small clearing just several yards away from the coordinates provided, earlier, by Agent Romanoff. The wheels never actually touched the ground though, as Agent Hill kept the small jet in hover mode.
"Okay, Banner. This is where you get off!" the yelled into the back of the craft. Banner nodded, and then made his way down towards the rear access hatch.
Agent Hill flipped a switch on her console, and a few seconds later the rear hatch opened and a ramp descended to the ground below. Banner quickly made his way down, and then hopped out onto the ground.
Then he watched as the hatch closed, and then the jet hovered upwards, did an about-face, and then hurried off back to the Helicarrier.
Just as Banner began to head off towards the bomb location, a mortar shell of some unknown kind sped by directly over his head. He quickly dropped to the ground, using his arms and hands to cover his head.
Oh, this was such a bad idea. Bruce, what the hell were you thinking! He could feel his blood pressure steadily rising, and his breathing begin to accelerate—both were bad signs for the good doctor.
"Bruce!" a familiar voice called out to him. He looked up after a second or so, and saw Natasha Romanoff hurrying towards him. "Bruce, get up!" she called out once again.
Bruce pulled himself up to his feet again, and forced himself towards the waiting female agent. "Natasha." He said her name as he approached her.
Just then one of the weird half-cyborg/half-organic creatures that the other heroes had been battling for the last several minutes, came charging out from the opposite side of the clearing. It headed right towards Banner and Romanoff running at full speed.
"Look out!" called a familiar, friendly voice. Then a red, blue, and white blur whizzed through the air, and struck the creature in the back toppling it to the ground just feet from where Banner and Agent Romanoff stood. The circular object then rebounded off a nearby, hardened tree, and then headed right back to where it had come from—Captain America himself.
Romanoff nodded in the soldier's direction. "Thanks for the assist Captain!" she yelled across the clearing.
"Anytime ma'am." Captain Roger's replied, before turning to slam his fist into the face of another oncoming enemy.
"Come on!" Romanoff said, as she grabbed Banner's sleeve then, and hauled him off towards the tiny building where she'd found the bomb just moments before.
Several seconds later, Bruce knelt in front of the device, and took a brief moment to look it over before proceeding forward. He was somewhat impressed by what he saw before him, but his resolve remained unshaken.
"We've got less than three minutes left." Natasha told him as she stood by the nearby entrance watching for any enemies who might come to stop their disarming of the bomb. "Really think you can stop it?"
"Piece of cake." Bruce said, wiping a few beads of sweat from his brow. "And thanks, by the way." He added, without looking up from his work.
"For what?" Natasha asked.
"The vote of confidence with Fury." He replied, chancing a glance at the red-haired beauty.
Of all the people who resided on the Helicarrier on a regular basis, none had proven to be in Bruce's corner more often than Natasha Romanoff. Sure, they'd originally gotten off to a rather rocky start in the beginning; but since then they'd become almost best friends in a way.
Natasha Romanoff was usually quick to come to Bruce Banner's aid in any situation that might arise. More often than not, said situations involved certain jarheads picking on the mild mannered scientist trying to see how far they could push him before he reacted (if you catch my drift).
The ex-Russian spy had seen Bruce for what he really was, a tortured soul, much like herself—from that moment on a connection was formed that could only grow and grow. This was especially true during the many absences of her only other real confidant, Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye.
Bruce was, by now, halfway down into the inner workings of the device, and from all appearances the pressure was beginning to work against him. "Come on, come on. I know you're in here somewhere." He muttered under his breath, as a few more beads of sweat meandered their way down over his forehead.
"How's it coming over there Bruce?" Natasha asked, looking from the open doorway to where Bruce was squatting on the floor near the bomb.
"Give me time." Bruce hissed quietly, without really realizing it. "I'm almost there." He licked his lips a little in anticipation of his works completion. "Ah, almost got it."
"Less than a minute fifty to go, Bruce." Natasha called out over the deafening noises sounding from outside the small building.
"Damnit." Bruce suddenly swore aloud. A red light on top of the device began to blink wildly as a dull whining sound followed. "No, no, no."
"What happened?" Natasha asked, looking back worriedly at her scientist friend.
"I screwed up." Bruce admitted quickly. "There was a backup relay set within the device's main circuitry…its going into overload countdown." He explained.
"What!" Natasha gasped in shock. "Can you stop it!"
Bruce snapped his head around to face the female agent, and the look on his own face betrayed just how close he was to losing his cool completely. "I'm trying!" he hissed vehemently.
"Bruce, breathe." Natasha said at once. "Think, calm. Serene. Peaceful." She prodded him.
"I…I c-can't." Bruce stammered through gritted teeth. His fists went white-knuckled as he clutched at the side of the device. "He-He wants out."
"Bruce. Breathe, think." She pressed him further.
With some further prodding, Bruce finally came down from his elevated stress level, and within just a few seconds found a solution to the problem at hand. "I've got it." He exclaimed, as his hands quickly went to work once more.
"Romanoff," Nick Fury's voice echoed out through her earpiece. "Status report!"
"We're close sir." She replied.
"We're running out of time here, Agent!" he reminded her.
"I know. We just need a few seconds more." She insisted.
"There!" Bruce exclaimed once more. Just then the whole device suddenly powered down on the spot. Bruce rocked backwards a little bit, and fell flat on his backside. Soon afterward he breathed a sigh of relief, and then shot a small grin up at the red-haired beauty still standing just a few feet away.
"See, piece of cake." He remarked somewhat smugly.
Natasha rolled her eyes at the scientist, and gave a slight shake of her head in his direction.
…TBC…