A/N: Yeah, I should be updating Don't Wake Me, but this has been floating around in my head for awhile now… But at least this is now finished, meaning I can work on other stuff! :D
Oh, You're the hero
We've been waiting for
You have done the impossible
-Hero; Bethany Dillon
The Avengers went their separate ways after the battle. They didn't plan it, they just did. Steve went on a road trip to see modern day America, Clint and Natasha went on a paid vacation, the first in, well, ever; Tony went back to his Tower, and Bruce disappeared again.
Steve was the first to come back to New York, being called to his city of origin. It didn't take long for Tony to find him and offer him an apartment in the Tower. Steve accepted, mostly because of a lack of his own place rather than Tony's rather begrudging offer.
When Clint and Natasha came back to SHIELD, they promptly realized that Clint wasn't welcomed by the other agents. In fact, it was just the opposite. He was beat up almost daily by agents with a grudge for their friends. Both Natasha and Clint were ready to resign when Tony offered them an apartment as well. Separate ones at first, but most of the time one or the other ended up in the other's room.
When Thor returned from Asgard, he received the same invitation. It was accepted with some glee, with only one condition. That both Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis would be able to come with him. Tony had no protests against a few more women, even if they were off limits to anything but flirting.
The team was together again, missing only one person. None of them actually voiced it, but Bruce's absence was in the back of their minds, nagging at them. He had been the one that none of them expected to be at the battle, but somehow he was also the one they all wanted to be there. However, they knew he had to come to terms with not only himself, but the 'Other Guy'. Until then, they would leave him in peace.
It was a Friday night a year after the battle when Tony decided they had to have a Lord of the Rings marathon. Mostly because Steve had never seen them and thus couldn't understand his amazing Legolas jabs at Clint. What Tony wasn't prepared for was the resulting commentary on the archery and fighting styles.
"You know that stance is horrible, it would never actually hit the target." Clint commented during the Battle at Helm's Deep.
"You wouldn't be able to climb an elephant like that, it's completely ridiculous." Somehow they all believed that Natasha somehow had firsthand experience. However, Tony had limits.
"Would both of you shut it and just enjoy the movie?" He yelled.
"Sir, may I interrupt?" JARVIS' voice came over the speakers. Tony lifted the remote and paused the movie.
"Sure Jarvis, everyone else is. What's up?" He asked with a glare at the two assassins.
"Security has asked me to notify you that there is a crazy man in the lobby asking to see you." Jarvis said cooly. Tony frowned.
"Huh. Is he violent?"
"He does not appear to be." Tony shrugged.
"Activate the video feed and show me what's going on." He ordered.
"Of course, sir." The movie was instantly replaced with a view of the lobby. Three security guards surrounded the smaller man who was soaked from the rain outside. He wore simple, very worn jeans, and a purple hoody with the hood up over a baseball cap, making it so that no one could see his face, especially with his back to the camera.
"Wow, someone likes their anonymity." Tony commented. The rest silently agreed, watching with interest.
"Jarvis, give us some sound." Tony ordered.
"-need to see Tony Stark." The man was saying. Something about his voice was vaguely familiar, but none of them could figure it out where they'd heard it.
"I'm sorry sir, but you do not have clearance. If you don't leave soon, we'll have to escort you out." The head security guard replied, his arms crossed. The man raised his hands slightly.
"You don't want to do that." He said. At that most of the team began to almost recognize him, but not quite.
"Sir, that is our job, whether we want to or not. Now please leave." The guard ordered. The man sighed.
"Fine. I'll leave." He said, turning to go out the door.
"Jarvis, keep an eye on him." Tony ordered, curious now.
"Of course sir." Jarvis said, and the screen changed to show the man walking out the door, glancing around furtively. He then proceeded to walk around the building, twice. The third time around he was in between the Tower and another building of no importance, when he began climbing the fire escape of the other building.
"What is he doing?" Steve questioned, only to be shushed by everyone in the room. They all watched as he climbed to the roof of the other building, which was conveniently located directly across from a large window in the Tower.
"No way." Steve breathed.
"He's not doing what I think he is, is he?" Clint said.
"He's talking. Jarvis, read his lips." Tony ordered.
"I cannot, the camera has not been able to see his face well enough." Jarvis replied immediately.
"Okay, is anyone else getting the impression that this guy is off his rocker?' Tony asked, just before the man took a flying leap at the window. The resulting crash was heard both from the TV and from downstairs. Tony leapt up.
"What the hell! That's bullet proof glass!" He yelled, heading for the elevator. The rest followed.
They were greeted with a strange sight upon exiting the elevator. The man was on the floor, surrounded by guards with dumbfounded expressions. The man was kneeling on the floor, head in his hands, groaning and breathing deeply. Natasha brings out her gun, tossing one to Clint and they both approach him.
"Who are you?" Natasha demanded. The man let out a sharp bark of laughter.
"Figures…you wouldn't….remember me." He gasped out.
"Hey, imbeciles, leave." Tony directed his words to the still confused security guards. They all filed out, but not without some hesitation. They all watched the man as he began to control his breathing a little more, breathing a little more evenly and not nearly as deep.
"So why are you here? What do you want? And who are you?" Steve asked. The man shook his head, carefully rising to his feet while keeping his head down. Some miracle of the shadows kept his face hidden from view.
"Forget it. This was a bad idea. I'll just leave." He said, moving towards the elevator.
"Whoa, hold it! Do you really think we'll just let you leave after you managed to break into my Tower?" Tony demanded. The man just kept walking, until he heard Natasha's gun make an ominous click.
"How about you just come with us?" She suggested, her voice level. The man shook his head.
"You don't want to do that." He said, his voice just as calm.
"And why not?" The man paused before answering.
"Because, you wouldn't like me…when I'm angry." He said, his voice thick.
"B-bruce?" Tony stammered out. The doctor hung his head before answering, still not turning around.
"Yeah." His reply was barely a whisper and wouldn't have been heard if it weren't for the fact that the room was deadly silence. Natasha slowly lowered her gun and Clint did the same.
"You were just going to walk away?" Tony asked. Bruce sighed and turned around.
"Yeah, Tony. I was. I shouldn't have involved you guys in the first place." He said, staring down at his feet.
"Take off the damn hood and talk to us!" Tony demanded. Bruce pushed the hood back, revealing eyes still tinted with green, but set back into his emaciated face. The past year had not been kind to him, his hair was longer and slightly stringy, his cheekbones jutted out and dark shadows rimmed his deep-set eyes. They were all shocked into silence.
"Does anyone else feel the overwhelming need to give him a sandwich?" Of course Tony was the first to speak. Bruce just rolled his eyes.
"I have to agree with Tony on this one, for once." Steve said, his shocked eyes still trained on Bruce. The doctor sighed again.
"Look guys, I'm fine. I'll just be on my way and everything will be like normal again." He tried.
"Sorry, not an option. Who else is hungry? I'm gonna order in pizza." Clint said, heading for the elevator. The rest followed, Steve and Tony each putting a hand on Bruce's shoulders to guide him there.
An hour and six pizzas later, they were all looking a little better, except Bruce. The doctor was jumpy and kept glancing at the door.
"Ok, doc, what's up?" Tony put his plate on the coffee table. "You said something about 'not involving us'. What exactly does that mean?" Bruce shook his head.
"I said I shouldn't have involved you. As in I'm not going to stay here and make it seem even more like we're friends." He said stubbornly.
"Um, in case you haven't noticed, we aren't exactly weaklings. It's not like we can't handle ourselves." Steve threw in there. Bruce shook his head.
"No, this is the army. A general. He's powerful." He protested.
"You mean Ross? Is he giving you trouble again?" Clint questioned, a murderous look on his face. Bruce gave the assassin a confused look.
"How did you know about- You know what, never mind. Yeah, Ross is on my tail again. Has been since the battle. But it's fine, I can deal with it." He replied, rubbing a hand across his face.
"You know, I've a got a bedroom set up for you. How about you go sleep for right now, and we'll talk about this in the morning." Tony's questions tended to sound more like statements, but Bruce found himself unable to care. He was exhausted, having been up for three days now, making his way here.
"Sure, sounds great." He muttered, standing up. Tony leads him to a room and he falls into the bed, uncaring that he's still wearing his damp, dirty clothes.
The living room was silent for a few moments after Tony returned.
"What are we going to do?" Tony finally asked. Clint leapt to his feet and started pacing.
"I vote we just go knock some sense into the General." He said. Clint may not know Bruce very well or long, but he knew that the man was a hero in more ways than one and it ticked him off that someone was trying to spoil that.
"Sounds good to me." Natasha knew Bruce better than any of them, she was one of the only ones who could track him when he disappeared.
"I also believe that we should defend Friend Bruce!" Thor liked both Bruce and the Hulk, that is when he didn't have to fight him. He was the only one who could give him a challenge though.
"I'll get my suit." Tony was the one that had connected the most to the doctor, having spent a couple days locked in a lab with him.
"Guys, we need to think about this first." Steve was the cautionary one, as usual. He liked Bruce, but he wasn't stupid enough to go running off after a General.
"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Tony asked. Steve thought for a moment, then shrugged, remembering how Bruce looked.
"Whatever, let's just go punch his face in, then get Fury to fire him." He decided. With that the team got suited up and headed out to dole out a little bit of rightful vengeance.
The next morning Bruce rolled out of bed with a groan.
"Good morning Dr. Banner. Would you care for the forecast?" The disembodied voice made him jump a little before he remembered where he was.
"Ah, no thanks Jarvis. Where is everyone?" He asked, before realizing that he had no idea where anything was anyways.
"They are in the kitchen sir. And I believe Pepper brought you fresh clothes last night." Bruce couldn't help but find it a little odd that someone on the team knew his exact size, or at least what his exact size used to be. They were a little baggy now. He shrugged and opened the door, only to be greeted with a hallway. A hallway which he had no idea which way to turn.
"May I suggest that I direct you to the kitchen?" Bruce smiled up at the ceiling, then promptly felt like an idiot.
"Uh, yeah, that would be, helpful."
With Jarvis's help, he soon found the kitchen where everyone was eating.
"Ah, Brucie! The man of the hour!" Tony was way too overexcited for this early in the morning. Bruce gave a small wave.
"Uh, morning." He said half heartedly.
"Here, have a waffle." Natasha slid a plate with a picture perfect waffle down to him. Strangely enough, he hadn't really pinned her as the cooking type, but he shrugged and dug in anyways.
"Thanks." He said once he was finished. He pushed his chair back.
"So, I'll be leaving now." He said, interrupting them from their various forms of reading the news.
"Why's that?" Tony questioned after glances were exchanged all around.
"Remember, General Ross is chasing me? Not safe for me to be here?" Bruce already felt tired and he just got out of bed.
"Who?" Did he wake up in an alternate universe?
"General Ross." Bruce tried exaggerated slowness. Tony shook his head.
"Nope, don't know one. Any of you?" He was met with head shakes all around.
"Jarvis, do you know of a General Ross?" Tony asked.
"No sir, but there is a man with the last name of Ross in the hospital nearby. He appears to have suffered from blunt force trauma on his entire body and requires a full body cast." The AI informed.
"What a shame. Send him some flowers or something, signed from all of us." Tony ordered, with a wink at Bruce. The doctor was still in shock.
"We stick together." Steve said, going back to his newspaper. The others all nodded in agreement.
"Now go back to bed, you still look like death warmed over." Natasha ordered. Bruce obeyed, wondering if this was a dream and if he'd wake up in real life. If so, he liked this dream a lot better.