A/N: I don't know how long the gap is supposed to be between Dr. Banner dropping off the grid and the first Avengers, and I'm not going to check for the sake of my quick story, so please stick with me! We're going to pretend it's a little over 20 years, okay? Okay.
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Fury looked around at those gathered around the table. Loki is presently stuck in the cage, and the Avengers, or at least the beginning of the Avengers, are seated before him.
"Is this everyone?" Steve asks, and Fury focuses his good eye on the super soldier.
"For now," he answers cryptically, not yet willing to let the others in on the surprise he has for Dr. Banner.
Hell. The surprise he has for all of them.
"Sir! The helicopter just touched down. Passengers are boarding." Reports one of the S.H.I.E.L.D agents from his computer.
Fury nods his head solemnly, knowing the next ten minutes will be critical if his plan is to play out.
All the Avengers look to Fury with varying levels of curiosity, but he just smirks back, which unnerves some.
Everyone's head turns to the entrance to the hallway when muffled shouting is heard.
It gets slowly less muffled as those shouting get closer.
"I will not allow it!" Shouts a loud and dominant male voice.
"You don't have the right to forbid it!" Shouts an equally loud woman's voice.
Clearly these two are arguing.
"Please, just stop and think for once!" Shouts another woman's voice, less angry and more resigned than the others.
But it's at this woman's voice that Dr. Bruce Banner's head pops up, and he suddenly looks very interested in those arriving.
Well, his expression is stuck between amazement, fear, and longing.
And everyone at the table has noticed. Fury notices, with a great deal of internal glee, that everyone is now highly curious about who is joining them. He's now pretty sure his plan will work.
"Fury!" Spits a very angry man, as he marches into the room, a middle aged woman with straight black hair hanging loose following quietly behind, and another, younger, girl with wavy black hair up in a high ponytail behind her.
The younger girl is visible fuming with her hands clenched tight at her sides.
They pay no attention to the others in the room, instead focused solely on their party and Fury.
But everyone else noticed how Bruce blanched when the man walked in, and went doe-eyed after the older woman followed.
"General Ross!" Fury greets with obviously fake enthusiasm.
"Fury, you have no right to call on her to –"
"Bullshit!" the younger girl bellows, causing everyone to pause.
The man, General Ross, turns on her.
"Don't you dare use that language at me, young lady!"
When the girl steps toward him, the older woman gets between them.
As General Ross takes in a breath, presumably to shout some more, the woman surprises everyone by cutting him off.
"Don't you dare think you have any right to discipline my daughter!" she roars, in true mother bear fashion.
Only the Avengers hear Bruce quietly whisper, "Betty." And suddenly things make a lot more sense to those in the know – primarily, Natasha and Tony. Thor and Steve simply understand that there's some history here.
Fury is enjoying this too much, and he knows it.
Betty's outburst causes everyone to take a breath, and things get quieter, even if the heat of the words hasn't cooled.
"Fury," the younger girl spits from behind clenched teeth, "did you call on General Ross?" she asks, with clear derision present in her voice.
"No. He intercepted my message to you."
"Then it's a good thing mom and I hopped onto the helicopter," she says, blue eyes practically sparking she's so angry.
Ross' face gets red and he steps into his own daughter's space, looking over her shoulder at his granddaughter.
"You are my granddaughter, and I'm trying to do what's best for you!"
She splutters in indignation before she seems to decide words aren't going to cut it.
She steps around her mother and makes for the general, but her mother anticipates this and grabs her shoulders, effectively pulling her back. The general steps back out of reflex after seeing the rage in the young girl's eyes.
"Zoe!" Shouts Betty, in an attempt to break through the anger.
The Avengers are all watching raptly, drawn in completely by the drama unfolding.
Zoe stops struggling and settles for glaring at the general, her grandfather.
She speaks after Betty lets her go.
"I am twenty years old, legally an adult, and I am a verifiable genius with two PhDs, one in genetics and one in medicine. I make my own choices, I know what's best for me. I have been working with S.H.I.E.L.D whether you like it or not."
Ross stares dumbstruck at Zoe.
"Zoe Elizabeth Ross," he starts, using her full name like a parent about to scold their child.
"It's Dr. Ross to you," she interjects coldly.
He stammers out of shock at her tone of voice, but recovers quickly enough.
"I'm doing what's right for our family," he asserts.
"Hunting down my father for my entire life has never been what's right!" Zoe screeches, having lost her cool again.
Bruce is so struck by the events unfolding, his genius brain isn't putting the pieces together, or maybe he's just in denial.
Natasha and Tony, on the other hand, have already figured out the implications of everything happening. True to Natasha's form, she tucks the information away for later. Atypical for Tony, he keeps his mouth shut.
"You," Betty starts, "are not a part of our family. I told you twenty years ago to never talk to me as your daughter again. You don't have any rights as a grandfather either, despite what you might think."
General Ross doesn't have a chance to answer.
"You also weren't invited on my ship," states Fury.
General Ross whips around.
"And I suppose you want Zoe to stick around and work for you?"
"I told you, it's Dr. Ross," Zoe says sternly.
Fury just smirks at General Ross, which sends a sliver of unease down his spine.
"I thought Zoe - sorry, Dr. Ross – might like a chance to meet her father."
The whole room freezes.
The trio who had thus far ignored the others spin around to search the room, each with a different expression on their face. General Ross spins around in anger, while Betty searches with guarded hope in her eyes, and Zoe has a mixture of happiness and uncertainty.
Bruce, for his part, barely managed to squeak out a "what" at Fury's words, which has the unfortunate effect of drawing all eyes immediately to him.
General Ross pulls out his comm device and starts shouting, "I need – "
But Zoe steps forward and snatches the device from his hand.
"This is General Ross' granddaughter, and he doesn't need a damn thing," she states, staring the man down, before dropping the device to the floor and crushing it beneath her boot heel for effect.
As she steps away, back to her mother's side, Fury gets in the general's way.
"Dr. Banner is a guest on my airship, and you have no authority here," he says, staring Ross down with his eye. He goes mercifully silent.
"Bruce?" whispers Betty, unable to take her eyes of the man who looks ready to bolt from the room.
And Bruce feels ready to run. Surprisingly, however, he doesn't feel like the other guy is a problem at the moment.
He takes a deep breath, "Betty," he starts, "so this is, uh, I mean, she is…" he trails off, gesturing to Zoe.
Zoe huffs out a laugh.
Betty finally looks away from Bruce to gaze at her daughter by her side, absentmindedly brushing some stray hairs behind the girl's ear, with a smile of content on her face.
It causes Bruce's chest to squeeze in a strangely nice way at the scene.
"Yeah," Betty responds softly, looking back to Bruce across the table, "I found out not long after you disappeared. I couldn't give her your last name, not without people searching for her, so I made up a story about a one night stand. But she's always known, Bruce."
Bruce clears his throat into the silence that follows.
"So is she," he stops himself and looks to Zoe for the first time, "are you – " but he can't finish.
It's not hard to figure out what he's asking.
"No, I don't have an alter ego who comes out when I'm angry or threatened," she tells him simply.
Bruce releases his pent-up breath in relief, and follows it with a small chuckle, "That was…kindly put. Thank you."
Zoe just shrugs.
"Every month until she was sixteen, I would draw blood and check it myself," Betty informs Bruce, who looks visibly relieved, with his head angled down.
"However," Betty muses, causing Bruce to look back at her in alarm, "well, it's Zoe's research, she should tell you."
Betty looks to her daughter with a proud smile on her face.
"Actually," Fury cuts in, gathering all eyes on him, "that's part of why I asked you here. I'd like for you to explain the concept of your research, and pertinent information, to the team."
Zoe nods, then takes a moment to gather her thoughts.
General Ross is getting more and more agitated by the minute, but Fury's glare keeps him silent.
"Well," Zoe starts, "I guess the first questions is: have you ever heard of the rumors of the "x-gene" in the medical fields?"
"I've heard of it," Bruce says, staring at his daughter.
"But it's just that, a rumor," comes a male voice, very close to Zoe.
She turns to find a man with a glowing blue circle on his chest.
"If you'd only take a moment to listen, Mr. Stark, you will see where this is going," she tells him.
"Anyway, it isn't a rumor," she pauses and makes eye contact with her father, "I found it."
"That's impossible," Tony butts in again.
Zoe turns and stares at him, "Excuse me, but I'm still talking."
He steps back with his palms up in surrender.
Natasha chuckles and Steve even gets a hint of smile. Thor booms a laugh, "I like you, daughter of Banner, you are full of fire!"
Zoe takes notice of the near-god in the room for the first time and her jaw drops open.
Hey, she's only human.
"Holy shit," she whispers.
"Language," scolds Betty.
"Sorry, mom, but what I wouldn't give for a blood sample…" Zoe trails off, thinking hard.
Betty sighs and looks to Bruce, "She's prone to distraction when it comes to new theories and opportunities. She's very much like you," she tells him smiling.
"Actually, I seem to remember you were the one always getting side-tracked," Bruce responds, matching smiles on both their faces.
Fury clears his throat, "The point, Dr. Ross?" he suggests.
"Oh! Right, sorry," Zoe says with one last glance at Thor, she shakes her head and looks at Banner again.
"I had access to a sample of your blood post-incident, and mom got me a sample from pre-incident and I was analyzing them a few years ago when I noticed – " but she's cut off by aggravated mumbling from Bruce.
She hadn't even stumbled over the terms pre and post-incident, but he got caught on them.
"'Incident'," he mumbles in agitation, "that's a very nice term for what happened to me on the – "
"I'm sorry," Zoe states loudly, effectively cutting him off, "did the middle of my sentence interrupt the beginning of yours?" she asks sarcastically.
Bruce pulls himself together, while Betty laughs, and everyone else gapes.
"No, I'm sorry, please continue…Zoe," he says quietly, using her name for the first time.
"Anyway, I was analyzing the pre-incident sample when I noticed something out of the ordinary. I had found something where an old research paper I had read a long time ago said could be the place for the x-gene, if it did exist. It had properties of a gene that is a carrier for a disease, without the DNA actually enacting the disease." She pauses to take a breath.
"So I got curious and I checked the post-incident sample and the same gene was there, but it was different. This time the x-gene was expressed. So I developed a theory."
Everyone is staring at her, but she knows her stuff, and she's on a roll, so she doesn't pay any attention to them hardly.
"I think you had a latent x-gene, and the gamma radiation interacted with it, causing the gene to change. But, it's not entirely natural to your genetic makeup, it was only meant to exist rather than exercise. My theory is, had your x-gene been expressed from birth, you would have had enhanced strength, healing, and durability of your organ and skeletal structures. But, like I said, it wasn't entirely natural, so you ended up with hyper-active versions of those mutations that present themselves as a defense mechanism – just as they became active to defend you from the gamma radiation."
She takes a deep breath.
"And I learned more. I also had access to a blood sample of one Captain Steve Rogers, pre and post-serum." Zoe, along with everyone else, turns to look at the captain.
While Bruce is glad some attention is off him, Steve looks distinctly uncomfortable.
"Dr. Banner was attempting to replicate the serum used on you, so the samples were in his files."
Zoe starts to get really animated as she talks, waving her hands around, underscoring her words.
"I checked your pre-serum blood samples, and I found similar gene right where the x-gene would be. It was similar to Dr. Banner's carrier-like gene, but it also wasn't at the same time. It wasn't expressed, but it was right on the cusp of it – closer than Dr. Banner's was."
She stops and breathes, but no one speaks.
"I think that had the serum been administered to anyone else – at least anyone else without some form of present x-gene – that person would have died. You survived because the serum had something to work with – you just can't change someone as much as you did with nothing for the serum to mix with. I think it worked on you, but the mixture Dr. Banner tried didn't work as well because your x-genes weren't at the same level."
"'As well'," scoffs Bruce, "it didn't – "
"Yes, it did!" Zoe exclaims in excitement, cutting him off again.
"Maybe not the way you thought you wanted it to, but Dr. Erskine's serum was meant to exploit the x-gene. He couldn't come out and say it because it was still considered absolute lunacy to believe in such thing, and no one would have funded his project. I found some old notes he had written next to his own analysis of Captain Rogers' blood, and I think he knew exactly what he was looking for: the x-gene!"
Bruce sits down heavily in the chair in front of him.
"So, you're saying the captain and I are, what? Mutants?"
"Yes!" Zoe exclaims again.
"But I'm still not done with what I found, and with what Fury wants me to tell you, I –"
"I think I need time to recover from this, it's a lot," Bruce says, dropping his head into his hands.
"Bruce," says Betty quietly, "you need to hear the rest."
He looks up at her and nods, then shifts his attention back to Zoe, gesturing tiredly for her to continue.
"I found others with the x-gene, but with expressed x-genes. They let me ask them questions and take blood samples, and I got samples from their parents. I found that if a parent has a latent x-gene, there's a 43% chance the child will be born with an expressed x-gene, and the others have a 50/50 shot of getting the latent x-gene. It's a natural mutation!"
She stops again, but no one even knows what questions to ask anymore. She glances at her mother and Fury and they both nod their heads.
"So," she starts, with less fanfare of her hands than before, "your present latent x-gene is why I got an expressed x-gene, but my mutation isn't related to your alter ego."
Zoe stops and smirks at the table, waiting for what's she's said to sink in.
Natasha jumps in her seat first, making others think harder. Steve mutters, "But, wait…" before his blue eyes train on Zoe as she nods in affirmation.
Tony gets it next, his jaw going slack before his eyes reassess you.
Bruce figures it out last. He shoots up from his seat with a strangled cry.
"No, but – "
"Bruce!" Betty yells, stopping him in his tracks, though he's still panting from fear for his daughter, even though they've just met.
"It's nothing like yours, Bruce," she says reassuringly, "it's a natural part of her, it causes her no pain, and it's all mental."
This seems to calm him. Then his curiosity gets the better of him, and his scientist side comes out.
"So, you have an expressed x-gene," he starts, but Tony cuts him off.
"What can you do?" he asks, excitement and curiosity clear in his voice.
Zoe grins and takes a breath to answer.
"Nearly nothing!" shouts General Ross.
"My granddaughter is not a freak, her mutation," he says, making it sound like dirty word, "isn't strong enough to warrant speaking of!" He bellows, spittle flying from his lips at the implication that his granddaughter is gifted in any way other than intelligence.
Zoe spins to stare him down and he sneers at her. He reaches into his pocket and removes a coin.
"She can't even move this coin!" he declares, and tosses it in her direction.
It doesn't hit the ground, but hangs in the air over the table.
The table goes silent, and Zoe shoots her mother a beseeching look.
Betty spares a glance to Bruce before smiling at Zoe, "Show 'em, sweetie."
Zoe grins and clenches her fist. Immediately, machines in the room start shutting down, sparking in some places and the massive room erupts.
"Sir!" shouts Maria Hill, "We've been hit by an EMP! We don't know where it came from!"
Fury laughs, "I do."
Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff leapt to their feet once the machines went down.
"Are you doing this?" Natasha says to Zoe.
"It couldn't have been an EMP, my arc reactor is still going," Tony says in confusion.
"No, it was. And yes, it's my doing," Zoe says calmly.
"How?" comes the voice of Dr. Banner.
"I can control and manipulate electro-magnetic fields, and I can control and manipulate metal."
With a glance over her shoulder, she continues, "Do you know how many things nowadays are made of metal?"
Suddenly the hum of the engines, heard just barely by the subconscious, stops. Shouts informing Fury that the engines are down fill the air, but go quiet once the helicarrier stays in the air.
All the workers have moved to see the girl standing calmly on the bridge, and the Avengers are all looking around, unsure what to do.
"Sir," starts Agent Hill quietly, "she's holding us in the air."
"Well, our ship is made of mostly metal. It's almost entirely under her control," Fury says before laughing.
Zoe smiles, but feels the strain starting.
"You may want to get back to your stations, I'm going to give control back to you."
Everyone rushes back to their computers, readying to do their jobs once more.
Zoe unclenches her fists, and the machines start to come online. She closes her eyes and focuses on getting the engines moving again, before relinquishing control.
Once she's done, she turns back to the table, beaming.
Her mother side-hugs her, and Tony claps. Natasha peruses the girl again, a slight smile forming on her lips. Steve just mutters "wow" and gazes at Zoe. Bruce stares intently at the love of his life as she embraces her, their, daughter.
He walks around the table and stops before them, not even sparing a glance at the stammering General Ross as Fury has men escort him back to his helicopter.
Zoe turns back to Fury, "So, Director, was that all you called me for?"
"Actually, no," he starts before giving her a look which told her this was important.
"I'd like to formally ask you to join the Avengers."