He knows immediately that something is wrong. Despite going to bed early, he doesn't feel rested. He actually feels awful. His back aches, his head pounds, and his stomach churns with tension.
He blinks and realizes he's laying on the floor.
No.
He's laying on what used to be the ceiling. There's a gaping hole above him and he sees smaller bits of debris scattered around him.
Panic hits him full force and he scrambles to his feet.
"No, no, no, no," he moans as he looks around.
The Tower is utterly decimated.
There's worse structural damage than after Loki's invasion and several support beams and walls have given way to their too-heavy loads, crashing down and creating an unstable void in its wake.
His hands clench hard against his temples as his eyes dart around, desperate to remember something, anything.
But there's nothing. Nothing significant anyway.
Last night had been quiet. Everyone, even Thor, was back and they'd brought pizza home for dinner. Everyone had called it quits after that, the prospect of a full night's sleep too tempting to pass up.
Now he was here.
No prompting, no threat, no danger.
He'd lost control last night for no reason. And by the looks of what was left of the rooms around him, he'd done some significant damage.
His heart stops at the thought.
This place, it was home. It was good and safe and happy and filled with people he cared ab-
The shout pulls itself from his throat unbidden, "Tony!"
His desperate yell fades.
"Steve!"
Nothing stirs.
"Natasha!"
It is utterly still.
"Clint!"
And the only reason that it would be so quiet…
"Thor!"
His last, desperate, hope is less than a whisper, "Jarvis?"
There's no answer from anyone and he screams in denial.
He twitches and startles himself awake.
His breathing is too fast and his heart pounds in his chest.
Tears leak out from his clenched eyelids and Bruce tries to calm himself down before his nightmare becomes a reality.
The motions are habit by now and he doesn't hesitate to pull out his personal laptop and switch it on. He could ask Jarvis to do the check but he needs to see for himself and he needs to move past this dream. Secretly he's still terrified that when he calls out to Jarvis the AI won't answer him and he'll lose his mind to the anger.
He accesses the security program that he 'borrowed' from Tony and confirms that the Tower is still standing. With each affirmation his breathing slows and by the time he's certain that all his teammates are safe in their rooms he feels the vice that had been gripping his heart loosen.
He sits quietly in the dark and administers himself the strongest sedative he has, knowing it will knock him out until mid-morning.
At which time he'll stumble out of bed, see everyone with his own eyes, and reign in this nonsense.
Sometime in the next three and a half weeks he'll wake up again in the middle of the night, sweating and scared, and desperate to know that his worst fear hasn't come to pass.
Inspired by the Fuck Yeah Avengers Headcanon Tumblr page (post #15). I'd post the link but we all know it wouldn't work so just copy and paste the Tumblr page into Google. Definitely a worthwhile blog to check out!
Oh, the Bruce angst. I'm taking suggestions for something more lighthearted if you have any ideas but I have some in the works already because this was painful.
Always
Sinkme