Lacey was crouching down behind the couch, feeling fear course through her entire body, making her feel dizzy but extremely alive all at once. She was covered in a cold sweat and shaking, trying to hold her breath as she listened for heavy footsteps. All she could hear was the living room clock ticking. Each tick sounded so loud and drawn out as she sat in silence. She wanted to scream at it to be quiet but held back. Each tick made her feel even more on edge, tightening her grip over her rounded stomach where she could feel her baby moving with each heartbeat. She let out a whimper when she heard the terrifying footsteps she had been dreadfully anticipating. The closer they got the wilder her heart beat. Finally they entered the room and stopped. Lacey didn't know what to do. She couldn't peek over the couch; it might give away her hiding spot. She felt tears well up in her eyes, unsure of what was going to come next. Suddenly the couch was ripped away from her side and she heard a loud, deafening roar. She looked up to see the green monster she had been hiding from towering above her.

Lacey sat up in her bed, instantly wide awake. She still felt the heavy fear from her nightmare and she looked around, expecting to be attacked.

"Mommy what's wrong?" She heard her daughter's little voice. Angelica was standing there looking up at her innocently with her big brown eyes, her almost white blonde hair a mess all around her face from sleeping. Lacey took a deep breath and smiled at her daughter.

"Nothing sweetheart, just a bad dream."

"I came to wake you up," said Angelica smiling. Lacey rubbed the sleep from her eyes and swung her legs out of bed.

"What do you want for breakfast?" asked Lacey.

"Captain Crunch!" said Angelica. She ran ahead of Lacey into the kitchen. Lacey smiled, watching her daughter go. Angelica was the only light in her life. Nothing carried her through the day like her daughter's smile. She had been having the same nightmare for the past week. She thought she had gotten rid of it but it was back. It was always so vivid, exactly like the day it had happened. It made her shiver just thinking about it. Her 'old' life was what she referred to it as. Now she was a single mom living in a tiny apartment in New York City working as a hairdresser. She struggled everyday to get to work on time, be with her daughter, and pay the rent. She often went back and fantasized about her old life, thinking about how much happier she was. She knew she could never get it back.

She remembered the monster's eyes, green like the rest of its body. They had an angry wild glint. To the day she still found it hard to believe it had been Bruce inside that monster. It was painful to think about, but no different than any other day. Angelica looked just like her. Light blonde curly hair, fair skin, and her facial features matched almost perfectly with Angelica's when she had been four. But every time she looked into Angelica's dark brown eyes that she had inherited from Bruce, it reminded her of her old life. Her forbidden life. She remembered everything that had happened from day one.

It was 6:45 and Lacey was ready to leave work. It had been a rough day. With a wedding party that had come in earlier and numerous girls that came to get their hair done for prom the bottoms of Lacey's feet felt almost numb. She sat in one of the chairs, staring at herself in the mirror. Her eyes had dark bags under them and the bun she'd put her hair into earlier had half fallen out since that morning.

"You're closing tonight right?" Lacey looked up to see her co-worker Ashley come out from the back.

"Unfortunately," said Lacey. Ashley laughed and said

"I'm sure Trina will have me or one of the other girls do it tomorrow." Lacey didn't answer and instead just nodded her head. Trina was their boss and for the past week she'd had Lacey close the salon at 7:00. Ashley came around the chair to look at her. "Just go home and get some rest, you looked exhausted."

"I'll try," said Lacey smiling. She said goodbye to Ashley and then was left alone, still sitting in the chair. It really was pointless for her to stay there. Nobody ever came into the salon after 6:30. She'd just sit there in the silence for fifteen minutes before taking one last look around the shop and locking the door. Her cousin Beth was probably already home at their apartment eating dinner. She felt herself dozing off as she sat in the chair and before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

Lacey woke up confused as to where she was. She squinted as she opened her eyes to see she was still sitting in the salon chair. She sat up and felt a pain in her neck from lying sideways in the chair for so long. She groaned in pain as she looked over at the clock. It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes. She jumped up in shock when she saw that it was 9:00. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and saw five missed calls from Beth.

"Shit," she said. She quickly looked around the shop and then grabbed her things and locked the door. She walked out and remembered that she had walked to work that morning. Her apartment was only a few blocks down but she wished she had a car to go home in instead of walking on the dark street. As she started to walk she called Beth. She picked up and Lacey said

"I'm sooo sorry, I'll be home soon. I fell asleep in one of the chairs!" Beth laughed and said

"No problem I was just worried about where you were. If you didn't call back soon I was going to take a walk down and see where you were." Lacey laughed and said

"Alright, I'll see you soon." She put her phone back in her pocket and crossed the street to the sidewalk. The warm spring breeze felt good and Lacey couldn't wait until summer came and it got even hotter. She liked living in Willowdale, Virginia. It was much better then Oregon where she grew up. She was lost in her own thoughts and didn't see the man standing just out of the street lights reach, waiting for her in the dark. By the time Lacey saw him leaning against the building it was to late. The man stepped forward and grabbed her arm. At first she was too shocked to make a move. The man looked greasy with his dark brown hair slicked back and pockmarked face. Lacey could smell the alcohol on him right away.

"Aren't you pretty," said the man, sticking his face into hers. Her fear kicked in and she tried to pull away.

"Get away from me!" she said. He laughed at her and grabbed her other arm. She struggled against his grip as he started to try and pull her into the alleyway he had been hiding in. She started screaming and the man put his hand over her mouth trying to keep her quiet. She took the opportunity of him turning around and brought her foot up, kicking him in the groin. The man yelled out and almost fell to the ground, loosening his grip on her. She broke away and for a fleeting moment she thought she had escaped. Then she felt his hand closed around her ankle. She fell almost face first onto the pavement. She screamed again, as loud as she could, hoping someone would hear her.

"Somebody please help me!" The man pinned her down and pulled a pocket knife out of his pocket, opening it and holding the blade to her neck.

"Don't make another sound," said the man threateningly. Lacey felt tears start to stream from her eyes. She felt the sharp blade of the knife bite into her skin, drawing blood. This was it for her. He'd rape her and kill her. She'd never see Beth again, or the inside of the salon. She was only twenty-three; she had her entire life ahead of her. She couldn't help but let out another scream, somebody had to hear her. "I told you to be quiet!" he snapped. He punched her in the face. The burst of pain made her cry out again. Her entire skull felt like it was throbbing, she felt like the world was spinning. The man punched her again and again. Her vision was becoming blurry and the pain was overwhelming. Suddenly the man stopped and looked up. She heard another man's voice from a distance.

"What the hell is going on here?" She fought to stay conscious but she felt herself slipping away. She tried to yell for help again but she couldn't muster the strength, opening her mouth with nothing coming out. Black started to cloud over her vision and she was gone.

Hey everyone this is my first Avenger story :) Please review and tell me what you think. The majority of this will be set before the Avengers film. I wasn't sure if I should actually put it in the Incredible Hulk section but since I'm using Ruffalo's version of the Hulk and it will eventually be set in the Avengers time period (like the beginning part) I decided to keep it in here. Thanks everyone for reading :)