'Brianna...Brianna...Brianna.' Even the name sent shivers of familiarity down his spine. Bruce Banner sat in Tony Stark's lab, his head in his hands. It was probably around four or five in the morning and even Tony had gone to bed. Bruce was alone with his thoughts and for the first time since he joined the Avengers, the name popped into his mind along with many memories of his childhood. Because Bruce Banner wasn't born Bruce Banner. He was born Brianna Banner.
She would have stayed Brianna too. If it wasn't for the Hulk, the fact that she was a monster. The Hulk was a male, a man, and Brianna was a woman. She had been taught when she was small, that women were weak, that she had to learn her way around the kitchen to be a good wife. But she loved science, she wanted to be a scientist but she never doubted the fact that she was Brianna Banner.
Her father abused her through out her childhood, but in her adulthood, she was successful, she was beautiful, she even loved a man named Benny. Until she was exposed and the Hulk became part of her.
Suddenly she wasn't just Brianna anymore, she was the Hulk. She killed so many people before she decided she didn't want to be submissive towards the monster inside of her body. The only way out she saw was to become a man, men were strong, a man could control the Hulk. So she changed her name to Bruce, she began to bind the C-cup chest she had prided herself on as a teenager, she sheared off her long dark hair and she hid her gender well.
Then she began to help people, she helped in three world countries, she became their doctor. Nobody expected their strong male doctor to be a woman. Even after she joined the Avengers, they just assumed she was male because of the Hulk. But now, alone in Tony Stark's lab, she feels the urge to be Brianna again, to be herself. So Bruce reaches up her shirt and pulls it off her upper body, exposing the flat plain of her stomach and unwraps the bindings from around her chest. She sighs in relief as she feels the pressure of the binds gone from her chest.
Then she stands and walks to the vanity mirror, Tony always keeps in his lab and she looks at herself in the mirror, it may be just a trick of the light but she sees a scared young woman, she sees Brianna again. She reaches up to her cheeks and feels the tear tracks on them, she's crying. She can feel the Hulk's confusion inside of her, to know what's upsetting her, but she can't explain. She can't explain the joy that blossoms in her chest.
"Brother Bruce?"
She heard a loud voice from the doorway and spun around to see Thor in the doorway of Tony's lab, his eyes are drawn to her chest and she gasps, running back to the chair and fumbling as she tries to put on her shirt.
Thor walks forwards and covers her with his cloak. And Bruce looks back at the strangely solemn god, her eyes were welling with tears.
"Come S.H.I.E.L.D brother."
Thor whispered and led her away and out of Tony's lab. Bruce turned around and began to cry into Thor's shoulder like the weakling she felt she was.
"W-Where are we going Thor?"
Bruce whispered slowly and Thor looked at her sadly.
"The Man of Iron, Shield American brother, Man with Hawk eyes, and Other Avengers wanted to see you. I volunteered to come get you."
Thor whispered and Bruce whimpered as Thor led her into the kitchen. Where Clint, Steve, Natasha and Tony sat at the kitchen table. It seemed Bruce had miscalculated the time. They all looked up as Thor and Bruce walked in, and Tony was the first to leap up and question.
"What happened!? Why are you wrapped in Thor's cloak, Bruce?"
Tony asked, looking at Bruce with concern. Bruce just shook his head, silently. Steve and the rest of the Avenger's began questioning as well. Bruce pulled the cloak tighter around herself. So it was Thor who spoke.
"It seems our S.H.I.E.L.D brother, Bruce, is a young woman."
Thor whispered, smiling and the rest of the Avengers just gaped at them. And Tony's eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted, it was Steve who fainted next. Leaving Clint opening and closing his mouth like a fish, and Natasha with a rare expression of surprise on her face.
Bruce sighed, it was going to be a long day.
-TheTimeSkippythingiegoesheredude-
The Avengers were all sitting around the table in the kitchen and all of them were staring unguardedly at Bruce Banner who was dressed in one of Natasha's bras, shirt and her own pants. Tony spoke slowly.
"So, how long have you been a chick?"
Tony asked, trying to make it into a joke and Bruce thanked him with a tiny relieved smile.
"Since I was born."
She answered, softly and Tony smiled as well. Then Steve spoke up, his eyes sad and hurt.
"Why didn't you tell us, Bru-? What are we supposed to call you now?"
Steve sighed and Clint looked like he agreed with what Steve was saying.
"Yeah, why didn't you tell us? Explain."
Tony added, staring at Bruce like he was trying to see into her soul and whatever she was hiding from him and the rest of the team. Bruce nodded.
"Okay, well I guess I'll start at the beginning. I was born Brianna Sarah Banner, to Rupert Bruce Banner and Elizabeth Alaina Banner. And I would have stayed Brianna Banner, I had a pretty good life once I got out of the house, I became a scientist and a doctor, I loved what I did and...I fell in love with a man named Benjamin Ross, everybody called him Benny. I was happy, until I made a mistake when I was experimenting with Gamma rays. That's when The Other Guy showed up. After that, I felt like I was a monster, I couldn't control myself at all. I killed and killed and killed some more. I was too submissive towards the Hulk, like I had been with my father and I let him control me. I was so out of control that Benny, I couldn't stop myself and he-he-he wanted to save me. He's gone now, my fault."
She whimpered bitterly, trying to ignore the tears pouring down her cheeks, looking at the counter top instead of the sympathy filled eyes of her friends, her team, her family.
"I was raised wrong, I thought that women were designed to be weak. I-I thought the only way out would be to kill myself. So I tried, I woke up the next morning around the bodies of people I killed. I then thought of a way out, if I could be a man, I could control the Hulk, I would be stronger. So, I cut my hair, I bound my chest, I hid my gender well and because The Other Guy was a man, nobody thought otherwise of me. When I joined this time, I met Natasha and realized women were far from weak. I wanted to be myself, to be Brianna again but I was afraid you would hate me when you found out my lie. I'm so sorry."
She whispered softly, wiping the tears from her cheeks. And the Avengers looked at her with shocked eyes, then Bruce stiffened as Tony walked over to her, bent down and pulled her into a hug.