Title : Survivor still bleed.
Author : JackB
Prompt : Injury&Child
Warning : Mention of rape, past child abuse
Word : 3416
Resume : Bruce got himself into a fist fight, some wound are reopen.
Tag : Bruce Banner, Jennifer Walters, attempted rape, on someone else, nothing graphic, mention of past child abuse, blood, cousin/sibling dynamic, (Eventual mention of past rape? if you want to read it that way, maybe), fist fight
Position in Timeline : Before the Gamma incident.
Bruce is not what people would call strong, he's not especially fit, tall, athletic. It doesn't mean he is that bad on the physical plan, just terribly average. But there's one thing Bruce Banner has, endurance.
He was invited to a party, well the study major of his cousin Jennifer had been invited and she invited him. It was the kind of awfully big party that students could want enough to create. If he had avoided all the previous one that occurred the past years during his own course, he thought that he could at least attend to one of these parties in his life, you know, for the sake of experience, and so on, came.
He did not like it at all.
Most people were drunk or would become drunk soon enough, the music was too loud but not as much as the crowd and he already saw crazy shit going despite the party had begun just three hours ago. He came late, and, of course, he did, it's not like he had planned to put huge effort into it and show up in time was a too big effort for him. This and the fact Jen did not really pushed them to go sooner either.
Wandering around, trying to do something with himself whiles avoiding most interactions and accidents he nonchalantly dodged if they had the nerve to occur in front of him, he found himself in the garden. Watching with despair a couple trying to make up beside the pool before they fell drunk into it with people exclaiming and laughing at them because. Well, he found that pathetic.
Why he was there in the first place, he asked himself, putting his barely drunk beer on a table. He hated drunk people, it just brought back bad memories and made him anxious and hypervigilent.
His eyes caught movement in the backyard, who was at the border of a small wood. A small group of people sank into the darkness. He hesitated an instant, but his guts turned, a bad feeling made him nervous, he had to know what was going on. Which sure was, very intrusive, but a quick check was not such a big deal. He followed them but Jennifer stopped him, a hand on his shoulder.
« Oh Bruce, finally I catch you. » She laughed.
« Hey Jenna, look huh, I have something to check. »
« In the wood ? » She frowned a little too much, before taking a big sip of her cocktail. She was already a little drunk. « There's nothing to do in the wood. »
« Yeah but.. »
« Oh I know, you want to take a shit or something ? Oh no, no you got someone to bang who wait for you, hum clever, better than doing it in front of everybody like the two idiots. »
« The one who fallen into the pool. » She laughed loudly.
« Yeah, also I think all the rooms are already taken, soooo if you want some action it's not gonna be in a bed. » She guffawed.
« Actually I've seen something strange, that's what I was going to check. »
« Because there can be strange things at this kind of party ? I found a pair of shoes in the fridge, also there's a guy who tried to fuck a tree not so long ago, don't tell me you have something weirder than that. »
« Maybe not, but I still want to check. »
« Oh come on, come with me and get drunk too, I want to see you when you're wasted, I want to see what your genius brain come up with when it's drawn in alcohol. »
« No, you know I don't drink. »
« Don't worry I promise to stop you if you do crazy shit. »
« The time I'm drunk you will be incapable of stop me for anything. »
« I would stop drinking now just for you to be free to get drunk with no consequence except a headache. »
He hesitated half a second.
« Oh come on. » She said plaintively. « You're not going to unleash on people because you're drunk. »
« You don't know. »
« For what we know you could be a sad drunker, a happy or an absurd one, not necessarily an angry one. Relax, I'm here for you, I will protect you and protect the people around for whatever happens. It's safe. »
He hesitated but his bad feeling didn't leave him.
« Not now. » He said, and tried to head up to the wood but she grabbed his wrist.
« Come on ! There's nothing in the wood. » She groaned.
« Let me check my thing and when I come back I will let you make me drink whatever you want. » She seemed pleased and released him.
« Fine, but you won't get your way around it. » She pushed his chest with one of her fingers, before nodding in approvement. « hm hm ! You will get wrecked Bruce, I promise you that. »
« Whatever. » He smiled slightly and followed his first idea.
He walked fast, of course, he has lost them, he searched around few minutes before he finally heard something. He ran toward it, because between degrading insults there were the voice of a girl. He stumbled to them and barked of a 'Hey' who surprised the group.
Before the three guys got up frankly pissed off to be interrupted. He had the time to see that the girl was obviously drunk or drugged, but also that she couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen.
« Get off ! » One of the guys groaned at him.
« That's not happening, don't you think she is a little too young and a little too drunk for you ? » They started to encircle him.
« What if we make a deal, you pass your way and you saw nothing or we beat your ass until you beg us to let you go, hum ? »
« Pff, he doesn't seem really tough, what about you kick his ass outta here whiles I continue. » One of the men said.
« Shouldn't be a problem. »
One of the guys resumed his position on the girl, but before he had the time to put a hand on her Bruce kicked him away.
« Get away from her. » He yelled.
Two strong arms grabbed his chest and sent him roughly on the floor in the next second. He received a kick on his flank that made him growl.
« What an asshole ! You don't want to play it nice, then we won't be nice either. » He grabbed Bruce's head and punched him hard enough for him to fall again.
Bruce took the opening they left to get up quickly and attacked the closest guy. His fist barely touched, he was not fast enough. But another one had the time to knee kick him in the stomach. He groaned, holding his belly before he received another punch who made him land again on the floor.
« Now get off, before it gets worse. »
Bruce laughed.
« That's not happening. » He said on his feet again.
The combat continued and Bruce was in a clear disadvantage, but he got up each time, had succeeded to hurt a little the others, but it was not much compared to what he received. After a time, one of the guys got annoyed.
« When you will understand asshole, you can't win ! »
« Well, I'm not leaving, you want to get rid of me ? You will have to kill me. » He huffed, getting back once again on his legs, before he received another fist right in the face.
« When will you have enough, huh ? »
« With your baby fist ? I could keep up all night. » One of the guys frowned.
« You bluff, you should look at you, we can barely recognize your face. »
« You won't last, better to drop the case. »
He tackled Bruce on the floor and continued to punch him as hard as he could. The physicist protected himself as much as he could and laughed dry when the guy stopped tired.
He chuckled. « You're all jokes, my father hit harder, you will have to do better if you want to continue to rape that girl. » He continued to laugh. « And with what I saw, you're far away from that. » Profiting of the inattention his little speech had provoked, he grabbed the head of the guy on him and punched it with his own. Both groaned in pain, but the guy let out a satisfying 'he broke my nose'. Bruce pushed him away and got up again.
His father had made him live far worse. He had gotten endurance during his childhood and it was not three fuckers that was going to put him down. He continued to laugh.
« So what ? We continue or something ? » His voice was rough and a little scary. It felt like he was crazy.
The guys hesitated then decided to quit.
« Asshole ! Next time you're dead. »
« Sure. » Bruce watched them leaves, marking their face in his head. He was going to make them pay. He headed to the girl who was barely conscious and had tried to move away during the fight. She tried to push him away, when he grabbed her face to look into her eyes and check on her despite the relative darkness.
« Don't worry, they're gone, I'm here to help you. »
« Bruuuuceeee. » He heard his cousin call in the wood. « It's been too long. Drag your ass back. »
« Jen ! Come here, I need your help ! » He called with urgency in his voice as he took off his jacked to cover the girl. She ran to him.
« What happened ? » She asked and kneeled beside the young girl.
« Three guys were on her, I chased them away, I think they drugged her or something. »
Jennifer pulled a light out of her short to check on her.
« Oh shit I know her, she's Alice, Alexy's sister, she's not even eighteen years old yet. Do you think.. they.. »
« I don't think so, but I'm not sure, we have to go back to the house, she needs medical care, and we need to inform whoever is Alexy, of the situation. »
« Yes, can yo.. Oh shit Bruce, you're bleeding. »
« Well, they didn't leave without a fight. » He rubbed his arm under his nose to wipe some blood.
« It must be painful. »
« That's okay, but let's not stay here. »
« Yes. »
Bruce carried Alice and they headed back to the party were few people came to help them while others left to chase the rapists. Since most people were already drunk, Bruce proposed himself to give a ride to the hospital to Alice and to two other persons who had been clever enough to hurt themselves. Alexy, too drunk to take his car came too. And despite the car being already full Jennifer was in as well.
« You know the road ? » She asked
« Yes. »
« Then forget it, I will give you a shortcut to the hospital from here. »
The road to the hospital was silent, Bruce did not want to go get checked despite Alexy and Jennifer insistence on the fact he should.
« Alex, just go take care of your sister, I got this. » She said after few minutes when she understood that Bruce was not going to let it go.
« You sure ? Your cousin should.. »
« Don't worry, just go take care of Alice. »
« Thank you. »
She sat again beside Bruce in the car.
« I take you back to the party ? »
« No. »
« You want to go home ? » He asked.
« We go to your place, we need to patch you up. »
« I can take care of it alone. »
« I know, but I come with you. »
« Jen.. »
« Or you go to the hospital or I go with you. »
« I want to be alone. » He tried with a tired voice.
« I know. » Her voice was calm but determined. « I won't stay all night. »
He sighed, family stubbornness. He rode back to his place and took a hot shower to clean the mess who had started to dry a little on his face, whiles his cousin searched around his place, his first-aid kit.
Bruce didn't have that much damage, he would just be sore for few days and have some nasty bruise, nothing he didn't already knew and lived. Few cuts needed to be patched up, one a little deep who eventually needed to be sewn up, but nothing too serious.
The worse in fact was his anger, it bites him hard and all he wanted was to kick stuff around. He just kicked his shower wall repeatedly, grunting in the process, something that just leads him being more hurt at the end.
People were the worst, what if didn't see anything ? What if he arrived too late ? He crouched, letting the hot water fall on him, he cried.
You don't do that to people, you don't do that to kids, kids shouldn't be harmed by grown ass adults who took advantage of them. They shouldn't, but people still hurt them.
He heard movement inside his bathroom.
« Bruce. » She called. « Stop burning your skin with hot water and come out. »
« What are you doing here ? I'm naked. » His voice cracked between his anger and his tears.
« Yeah and all I see is a big beige weird form, that's why they do blurred glass walls. Come on, get out, dry up, I will patch you up. I took you fresh clothes. » She threw him his towel above the shower wall and he yelled in surprise, stopping the water before his towel got fully wet.
« Can you leave me now ? »
« Come out first, I know if I leave you're just going to stay here and cry until you get dizzy because you're too hot. »
« Naked, Jen ! Naked ! » He barked with low energy.
« Wrap your towel around your waist, jeez. Beside we took baths together when we were kids and you wouldn't be the first man I see. Stop making a fuss. »
« Yeah fine. » He gave up and left the shower cabin. « Happy, now ? » His voice cracked again and tears slid down his face again. He just felt awful. He clenched his teeth, his chin trembled and he drifted his eyes to the floor, trying to hold back his sadness and anger.
Jennifer approached gently and manipulated his face to see the damage. Then she grabbed another towel and rubbed it in his wet hair.
« Come on cousins, you know it safe to cry with me. Nothing wrong with it, let it out. »
« I know, I know. » He mumbled.
She smiled at him.
« I will get some ice. » He nodded.
He joined her after putting some clothes and sat onto his bed, whiles she was on a chair in front of it.
« Give me a gaze. »
« It's already clean. » He protested.
« Yeah, yeah. » She waved off. « Give me gaze. »
He handed her one and soon she was tapping his skin with disinfectant, taking her time to make sure nothing was serious; but also because it was good to be cared off with attention and patience. She was gentle with him and he left her do her job without protesting anymore. Then she placed some bandage onto the main cuts and wrapped his knuckles with clean gaze.
« Now hold this onto your eye. » She gave him a small bag of ice wrapped into a rag. « Feel better ? »
« Sort of. »
« Want more ice for your foot ? » She laughed and actually dragged a laugh out of him. « I'm gonna cook something. » She said as she got up and headed toward the small kitchen.
« No need, I'm not hungry. »
« Oh but I am, and it will do you some good. »
He watched her prepare two sandwiches for a moment before he left himself fall onto his mattress, watching the ceiling absently. She talked to him but he didn't really listen. He only drifted out of his thought when he felt a soft tap on his leg.
« Come on, move I want to lie too. »
He moved closer to one side and Jen fell onto the mattress next to him. He rolled to be on his stomach like her and she handed him a sandwich. He took an eager bite and muttered a thanks. She smiled before eating her own.
« Do you want to talk about what happened tonight ? »
« Not really. »
« Do you want to talk about some other time ? » She asked with caution.
« No. »
« Can I talk to you about the girl I met ? »
« The one with the coffee ? Who has a weird laugh ? » Bruce mood lighten up a little at the change of subject.
« Yes, and she has a cute laugh, not a weird one. »
« Tell me. » He invited.
They talked for more than half an hour of the new crush of Jennifer. Bruce listened with attention to her, making silly comment time to time who made them laugh.
« Do you still want to stay alone ? Or should I stay ? » She asked, after some time.
« You should go home. »
« That's not what I'm asking. » He rolled his eyes.
« I would like to stay alone for the night, I will drive you home. »
« No need, I will manage. You stay here and catch some sleep. »
« It's not safe. »
« Don't worry, I have a knife, pepper spray, I run fast and I will take you some clothes so chance would be I pass as a guy. »
« Ok, if you're sure, but it doesn't bother me to give you a ride. »
« No really. »
« Okay, take what you need. »
She left not so long after. Giving a good hug to her cousin, making sure he didn't want her to stay to have some support for the night. They both knew if Bruce caught some sleep it would be full of nightmares, if not worse. After his father got in prison. He had stayed with his aunt, uncle and cousin and Jennifer supported and comforted him many times during the past years. She helped him ease bad time, but he really wanted to be alone, and she could understand that.
His mood got heavier once he was alone again. He curled onto his bed, warming his sheet, his mind focusing again on the recent event. He rolled in his bed until tears fell down again.
What if I hadn't been here ? This young girl.. Damn.
He felt awful. He knows this kind of shit happened to many. There were so many stories. So many childhood taken by many abusive hands.
He has been hurt, for so long, sure he hasn't been raped when he had been a child. Still his past was still so fresh, and damn, his wounds were so easy to reopen. Why ? Why ? Why ? Why they do this ? His nail was digging in his skull. He cried until exhaustion took him away for a night full of nightmares. It never ended. Never really. Shadows of his past were still lurking around this world, ready to stab him again at the first occasion.
End.